The revolution will be triumphant
Well a channel seperate UK and Europe.. The Iron Dam?
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The revolution will be triumphant
Well a channel seperate UK and Europe.. The Iron Dam?
Chapter 19.
Chapter 19: A game of dominos.
Mussolini promising a final victory. Sound familiar.
Germany had fallen, but the war was far from over. Mussolini, the Leader of Italy, made sure for the world to remember so. He held a grand parade and a grand speech going on about how Italy would prevail in the end and dominate the world as the Roman Empire had. Where for the western or eastern observer such a speech looked bombastic Mussolini needed to give his men a reason to fight. He needed to to convunce them that they could hold on the combined forces of liberalism and capitalism, that despite their defeats in Germany, the Balkans and the Sahara they would come out on top. And perhaps he needed to convince himself the most. Trotsky announced on the radio from Moscow: "First Berlin fell, then all of Germany. The two first pieces in a game of dominos have fallen. One by one the pieces fall, ready to claim the next one. Yesterday we took Berlin, today we take Rome, tomorrow we take Tokyo".
Canadian troops in Northern Africa.
While the Red Army had battled the Italian and German armies in the Balkans and Germany for nearly two years another vicious fight had taken the deserts of Africa by storm. Shortly following the introduction of the British Empire in the war the former French colonies (then under Germany) was dragged into a vicious war with the British Empire. Initially it was if the Axis would take Egypt and with them the Suez Canal. Rommel, the Desert Fox, and his Italian allies had pressed the British forces all the way back to Cairo. But soon reinforcements from the Commonwealth helped out their British brothers. Here in northern Africa Canadian, Kiwi, Australian and South-African forces fought bravely. The Afrika Korps and Italians was pressed back from Cairo, almost claiming the Kingdom of Egypt for themselves. Then the Spanish Republic intervened and took Morocco and Algerie. The Axis was now facing two fronts, and when USA got dragged into the war Patton and Bradley and their tanks smashed through the German lines. Now as Germany had surrendered so did the Afrika Korps. But the Italians remained in northern Africa having fortified their lines in the colony of Libya. It remained to be seen if the Italian forces in Africa would retreat back to Italy or hold the lines to prevent an Allied invasion of Sicily.
Let the games begin.
Despite the allied numerical superiority the Italian forces had managed to reclaim Piedmonte and had even invaded southern France, for a moment threatening to again collapse France. But following the German defeat large amounts of Soviet (and other) forces was relocated to Italy. The invasion plan of Italy was simple. The Baltic and Leningrad Fronts would strike from the west and east and meet just north of the Apennines mountains taking the industrialised north to their fold. Allied troops joined in on this plan, with the majority of British and American troops striking from the east. The Air Forces of all nations started their bombing campaigns of Italy at this moment hitting communication lines, ports, forts, cities and troops alike. An American general remarked "We will bomb them back to the stoneage, then we will roll over them with our tanks".
Despite the arrows we're not making so much gains, but the Hero of Spain will blitz through Istria and Croatia.
But another crucial part of the plan was Rokossovsky's invasion of Istria and Slovenia. Italy viewed the Balkans as their natural sphere of influence and had invested the majority of their forces to protect the Balkans from falling to the Soviet Union. However now as Italy herself was threatened by a Soviet invasion it made little sense to hold the Balkans as a buffer zone. While the navies and airforces prevented the Italians from evacuating by sea the road to Italy through the tiny strip of Istria and Slovenia was still open. Rokossovsky and his 1st Byelorussian Front was tasked with spearheading into Slovenia and Istria and reach to the Adriatic Sea. It was hoped this overwhelming force close the "Road to Italy" and prevent an Italian retreat. Meanwhile in the Balkans the Red Army ha a hard time breaking through the lines of Romania, Bulgaria and the various ex-Yugoslav armies. They were ordere to halt their offensives and wait for Rokossovsky to close the Balkans.
A magnificent victory for the motherland!
Despite the Japanese Empire commanding a superior Navy in the Far East a handful of Japanese and American destroyers scored a minor victory in the Sea of Japan while protecting supplies coming into Vladivostok to the isolated Far East Armies. This would normally not be seen as a major victory, but it was used in the propaganda machinery for all its worth. The Soviet Army and Navy had seen nothing but defeat in the Far East, barely escaping complete destruction. It was used to show the Soviet citizens and soldiers of the East that the Japanese could be beaten, and the Soviet-American friendship and cooperation was reported to be on the highest.
We'll stand our ground.
But the situation was still an all time low for the far eastern Soviets. The Armies of the Far East was confined to a small strip of land that could be broken at anytime. The Japanese sure tried to do just that. Their plan was to strike in the middle of the Soviet forces to split them into two seperate pockets and to take the airport and sea port in the north to prevent a Soviet evacuation in case of the forces being split in two. Despite this morale was reported, with an emphasis on reported, to be on an all time high among the defenders. An image was released of Soviet marines holding up the Navy's flag over Vladivostok saying "We will stand our ground, no matter what. We stand our ground, even I end up in a grave. I will do my part for my beloved Motherland, in the name of Vladivostok, the ones I love and our ancestors who bravely fought for mother Russia".
Perhps there won't be any more friends to fight for freedom.
Anyway, the Soviet High Command had to face the grim situation that had just developed: they were out of reserves. Millions of young men had died in the service for their homeland, and now the USSR had ran out of manpower - save for the ones they had in the field. Efforts was made to draft laws to get even more young men, and perhaps women, into the ranks of the Red Army. But that would take the time, especially as much political effort was reserved for agents and various activities to promote revolutions in Norway and Poland. In an act of solidarity the French government would give the Soviet Union a substantial amount of trucks and other vehicles to aid their war effort. Despite this the lack of manpower was a real issue for the Red Army, an American journalist wrote in an article "(...) the Russians have made great sacrifice in the name of world peace. The other day I saw around 50 Russians go out on a patrol here in Italy. They returned with only 32 men. They went out on another mission a few days later, and then they had even less men among them. I asked them why they couldn't be reinforced and why they threw themself away needlessly. They answered there isn't going to come any "comrades" to reinforce them. They told me they had to do their part, as so many before them, to end the threat to their homeland. Such is the Soviet sacrifice. Where we in the States speak of the Lost Generation, the Soviets put us all to shame. An entire generation of young men have given their lives for our liberty".*
TheAI Allies are actually doing stuff now.
By the 19th of April the Allies ahd made substantial advances into northern Italy, surrounding Venice and nearing the Po river and having crossed the river of Adige. But it was not the work of Vlasov, one of the key players of the Trotskyist revolution or coup (depending on how you view it). It was British and American forces who pushed forward. The Leningrad Front under Vlasov merely protected against Italian counterattacks. It was the Allied forces who took the brunt of the fighting in this theater. The Italian mountains proved to be difficult to conquer, but the Italians had relative few forces to protect their lines. By the 19th the majority of the Italians had even surrendered or was trapped in the canal city of Venice. Vlasov ordered his armies to make a final push toward the Po river. If that river was reached their objective was achieved, and they only needed to wait for the forces from the west to link up.
Deja-vu.
Despite the successes in the west, the east saw only defeat, followed by nothing more than defeats. The divisions in the area, now only counting 23 in total, was ordered to retreat to Vladivostok to prevent an encirclement. The Japanese was pausing for now, but it was feared they were preparing for a final and decisive assault.
We'll claim what's ours, by force if it is needed to.
Meanwhile the Soviet Union was in secrecy preparing their demand of the eastern provinces. Both by preparing the Army for an invasion, the governments of Ukraine and Belarus to absorb these new lands and the local Soviets to rebel against the Poles. Ever since the Soviet liberation of Poland they had upheld a military occupation of eastern Poland and set up local Soviets that was the de-facto rulers of eastern Poland. They wanted to take advantage of that by the soviets of eastern Poland officially pleading the USSR for help against an oppressive and racial Polish regime. In turn the USSR would demand eastern Poland to protect their fellow Ukranians and Belorussians or they would go to war. Molotov on the otherhand wanted to make a more calculated and pacifist path. He wanted to offer Poland "protection" seeing as the Allies failed to protect Poland in exchange for eastern Poland, meanwhile Poland would be granted eastern German territories. But Trotsky didn't have any patience for that, as he claimed that would only work after the war and that the workers of eastern Poland was "eager to join the ranks of the Red Army in our common struggle". Molotov is said to have warned Trotsky that they might end up in a state of war with not only Poland, but the United Kingdom and the United States. Trotsky merely replied "I have gone to war to liberate our people against the Polish once. I would do so again, and this time around there will be no miracle on the Vistula this time around nor any Stalin to sabotage the fires of the revolution". But the Soviets viewed the West as weak and that they would gladly sacrifice Polish integrity to keep peace with the USSR. It was a high gamble nonetheless, and only time would choose if they would succeed.**
Anything but the Afghans! No superpower have ever won against them.
While the Soviet political elite overlooked the May Day Parade at the Red Square the Japanese had funded a coup in Kabul to overhtrow the monarchy. They had gained to support of the majority of Afghan elders, warlords and tribal leaders and they were promised territorial gains in India and the Soviet Union. If the Japanese hoped to achieve anything is doubtful, but it diverted British and Soviet attention away from the Far East and toward Afghanistan, giving them time for their conquest of the Far East.
A jab from the right, a powerpunch from the left.
Back to Europe. In Italy the battle proven Meretskov ordered his Baltic Front to advance toward their allied forces in the east after over a month of constant allied bombing. Along with him French, Spanish and Magyar forces joined the fight. But British and American Shermans became the speartip of the campaign as they rolled into Italy interior nearing the historical city of Genoa. But the fiercest fights took place in the Alps. Anyway this offensive would be test and evaluate the condition of the Italian Army and people. It was here the majority, save for the Balkans, of Italian forces was located. If they broke through the Italian alps and reached Milan it would be a crippling blow to the "Roman Empire".
To the moon!
When Soviet forces rolled through Germany they came across many German rocket sites and factories, most famously the one in Penemünde. German rocket scientists was captured and they were along with the rocket sites enrolled in the Soviet "Diversity Program". They were to create experimental rockets that would not only give technology to improve the Trotsky Orgels, but also of far more strategic capabilities.
The Allies prevail in Africa.
On the fifth of May after four years of battle the North African Campaign ended as troops from New Zealand, Canada and Britain forced the last Italian forces in Libya (and Ethiopia) to surrender. The Italian Empire was no more and Sicily was exposed to invasion and bomb raids.
Round number I-lost-count start in the Balkans.
Following the Italian defeat in Africa the forces of Rokossovksy was in place. On the day of the 10th the forces was ordered to make an all out assault on the Italian lines in Croatia and Slovenia. Meanwhile the many Soviet divisions in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria was ordered to resume their offensives. This time around they had been reinforced with new arms and gotten plenty of rest and recreation, meanwhile the Balkan forces had been under constant areal bombardment and faced communist and nationalist partisan groups. In the first few hours the Red Army saw huge advances and it was only the forces of Rokossovky that faced stiff opposition from Italian troops who wanted to break into Italy proper.
Last pocket of resistance in the North..
Meanwhile to the west all of the major cities in the north had fallen to the allied forces. Only the port of La Spezia remained save for a few pockets in the Alps. French, Commonwealth, Soviet, Spanish, British and American forces had completely overwhelmed the Italian defenders and ravaged the countryside. Many believed the Italians to put up just as a fierce, if not fiercer, resistance as the Germans did in their lands. But that was not the case. With low morale, underequipped and facing a superior enemy the proud Italian soldier faced certain defeat - at the expense of their countryside. An American soldier of Italian heritage wrote "I heard so much about the land of my parents during my childhood. About the beautiful country and their rich culture. But when I came here after so many years I found nothing but death and destruction. This war have ended the rich culture and beautiful country with its grenades and tanks".
All roads lead to Rome.
The two fronts united on the 17th of May and according to the plan the Soviet Leningrad Front spearheaded ahead of Allied troops and ahead of the Baltic Front to drive southward to get to Rome. The Apennines mountains was taken and the road to Rome was more or less open with few rivers, marshes and mountains. Perfect conditions for the massive mechanized forces of the USSR, USA and UK.
We did in 13 days what we couldn't do in almost two years: conquer Romania.
And then on the 23rd of May the next piece in the game of dominos fell. Romania who was officially the reason for hostility between the Internationale and the Axis fell. After two years of a horrible war and millions of dead on all sides the Romanians surrendered. This was concerning for Bulgaria as the majority of their forces was located in the Carpathian mountains cut off from their homeland and supplies. Would Bulgaria be the next piece to fall?
Scenes from the Battle of Rome.
On the 25th of May the British 8th Army (supported by Canadian, Australian, Kiwi, Polish, Indian and South African forces) reached the ancient capital of Rome. The outskirts of the city had been bombed for months and reduced to rubble. The city itself was spared due to its cultural value. It was believed the British forces could simply walk into the capital and take it as the defenses had been reduced to ruins and the Italian forces had performed poorly. But they were shocked by the sheer tenacity of the Italian defenders. The bombed out ruins only made for the defending Italians to gain a much more favorable position. The British failed to break through the lines on the first day and had to wait for the American 5th Army to reinforce them. Meanwhile American and Soviet armies moved on to encircle Rome and Allied airborne divisions prepared to jump on the city. The battle raged on for days with steep casualties on both sides. Both knew that the fall of Rome would be an important milestone in the Italian campaign. If Rome fell it was believed it would mean the end to organized resistance to the ever advancing Allied armies on the peninsula.
Not so independent anymore.
To the east of Rome, across the sea the armies under Rokossovsky had mostly reached their goals and pressed the bulk of the Italian forces to a few ports. British, French and American forces soon joined the Soviets on their effort to end the Italian threat, but they faced fierce resistance in the remaining ports of Zara and one south of Trieste. The Italians held their ground as well they had nothing else to do and they hoped for the Italian Navy to evacuate them to mainland Italy. And that was the Italian plan, to evacuate their forces trapped in Croatia and Istria, but their navy faced severe opposition from the superior US and Royal Navies. For now they were on their own. Meanwhile during the offensives into Croatia, Zagreb fell and in turn Croatia. The German funded Croatian army surrendered en masse and this contributed to the worsening strategic situation for Italy and Bulgaria. Yet another piece had fallen, who would fall next?
S**t.
It was a curse over the Soviet Union. When they made major gains in the west, they were met with major defeats in the east. The Japanese had succeeded in breaking the Soviet forces in half, and the Far East Front was now down to only 22 divisions - with no possibility to reinforce their growing losses. The Soviets caught in the northern pocket was for now holding on, desperately clinging to life. But it was only a matter of time before the Japanese would take the last airport and their seaport. Was this only the tip of the iceberg?
Canadian soldiers in Italy.
In Italy the battle of Rome worsened for everyday. Despite reinforcements from all the nations in Italy the losses was high on all sides. The battle of Rome turned vicious and it was just another chapter in the many bloody urban combats of the war. Among the allies soldiers got increasingly large amount of "shellshock" and desertion. A Canadian officer remarked in a letter to home "the further you are from the sounds of guns, the less you understand".
If Horthy had done it, it would have been Hungarian Imperalism. Now it is Proletarian Internationalism.
In Hungary Rákosi became emboldened by his personal effort to secure Slovakia, Transylvania and Vojvodina. Most of pre-WWI Hungary was restored and he proclaimed Hungary to now be the "Balkan Union of Socialist States" or simply the Balkan Socialist Union. He proclaimed that the People's Republic of Hungary (including Transylvania and Vojvodina being autonomous republics within Hungary) was one of the states of the new Union with the Slovak People's Republic (minus the Hungarian claimed territories of southern and eastern Slovakia) being the other state. The Balkan Socialist Union then advocated for all of the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania to join into this Balkan Federation. Socialists and Communist around the world was generally positive to this development citing it as an example of Proletarian Internationalism, and that Hungary might unite the various people of the powderkeg under the banner of socialism where Yugoslavia had fallen to Serbian nationalism. The governments in exile of Czecoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia on the otherhand claimed this was the Hungarian Irredentism they had feared prior to the war and demanded their borders restored. The western powers generally agreed to this and wanted national self detirmination, and of course for the Balkans to not fall to a Moscow loyal communist regime. Trotsky and the USSR was interestingly enough quiet on the topic not giving any promises to either side.
Italian Expeditionary Forces in Serbia.
Meanwhile the Italian forces in the Balkans was under extreme pressure. The enemies had surrounded them completely and their homeland could fall at any moment. The Italian divisions was deemed to be enough to grind the Italian campaign to a stillstand. But they had no means to get to Italy. Meanwhile the Soviet, US and British airforces upped their bombing raids on the Italian positions and ports, hoping to terrorize them to surrender.
Italian troops in German uniforms surrendering to Communards.
Meanwhile forces from France entered their sector of Rome as the last Italian garrison melted away into to the countryside, either to keep fighting as partisans or to return home. The French troops moved quickly to occupy all government buildings in their sector, and it was only a matter of time before Rome would fall as a long procession of French soldiers and armored vehicles mounted for an assault into Vie del Corso..
Empires come and go.
But Italy was not the next domino brick to fall. It was the Serbian Empire (ironic as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia covered much more land and peoples than the "Empire" ever did) who was the next to fall. This was a severe blow to Bulgaria and Italy. They were now truly isolated to Allied and Soviet assaults.
Speaking of fall of Empires, British troops parading in Rome.
Rome, the 'Eternal City,' fell to the advancing Soviet spearheads. As Italian forces fell back, Russian troops fanned out into the city and dealt with the few remaining pockets of resistance in their assigned sectors. Most historical landmarks appear to have suffered little damage, although the Pantheon was raked by machine gun fire. Meanwhile the Allied troops pushed into their own operational zones. The city was now, on the 6th of June under military occupation, being split between American, British, Soviet and French occupation zones. The victorious powers would hold a long parade in Vie del Corso to celebrate their victory, but also to showcase their power of destruction to one and another. As Rome fell the ability for Italy to continue the war was questioned, however Mussolini along with the King and the government fled to Sicily to set up a provisional capital there. Meanwhile the Vatican asked the Allies and the Soviets to respect the neutrality of the Holy See. The Allies respected this entirley, however the Soviets positioned their troops and artillery in a ring around the Vatican city, guns pointing toward His Holiness.***
We've been visiting Rome, now it's time to taste that famous pizza from Naples.
When Rome fell the Italian forces collapsed allowing the Allies and Internationale to make significant advances to the south in the four following days. However just north of Naples the Italians regained their fighting spirit and stopped the allies. For now. It seemed that Naples and the Italian defnders would fall back to Sicily at any moment under the sheer weight of the invading force.
Italians who are much more eager to return home than to die by the hands of the Soviets.
Soon the fall of Rome reached the Italian forces in the Balkans. The majority of the Italian divisions surrendered to Soviet or Allied forces. Only a few, the hard core remained in Balkans. The once mighty Italian Balkan Expedition was no longer a threat to the eastern flank of the forces who poured down into Italy.****
Another one bites the dust.
With the majority of their forces trapped in Transylvania and Serbia, Croatia and Italy no longer being able to protect their northern and western flanks Bulgaria fell as they were attacked from the north, east and west by the Soviets, and the south by the Greeks and British. Only two pieces of the domino set remained.
The last Italians.. We'll take you to Italy.
Despite the majority of the Italian troops in the Balkans had surrendered, a few remained. Seeing that they had nothing to lose the Italian high command ordered an evacuation of 9 Italian divisions. One would remain to give the others a chance to escape. Despite the bravery of those who were left behind, they couldn't be evacuated. The combined forces of the US, Royal and French navies was just too great. The port of Zara had been layed with mines, and if they managed to get through the mines they had to get through the many destroyers and light cruisers patrolling the shallow sea. And then against battlecruisers, battleships, heavy cruisers and aircraft carriers waited on them, bombarding them with their heavy guns. All the while they were hunted by submarines and bombed from the air. An Italian soldier wrote "I thought I was coming home. But I realised death came to me. We barely escaped the advancing Soviet forces as we poured into the ship that was to carry us out. Meanwhile fighters and bombers strafed the beaches and ships, setting countless ships ablaze. Our transports ran toward the sea, leaving countless behind as they were bombarded by artillery on the beaches. But it was not over. The ship next to us hit a mine, meanwhile in the horizon we saw major explosions as what was left of our navy was picked apart by the big guns. Then several squadrons of fighter bombers dived straight toward us, followed by other squadrons of torpedo bombers. All I could see was death and chaos. We were bombed from the air and under the sea. Those in front of us were picked apart by the navies, and on the land we could hear the dreadful sound of the Trotsky Orgels. I realised I'd be better of being off the ship. So I jumped out. A few minutes several torpedos hit the transport ship. I was covered in oil and frigthened to my very core that the fires would consume me. I passed out, and when I woke up I was aboard a US vessel on my way back to Italy".
The Leningrad and Baltic Fronts are far from home.
Soon Naples fell, and with Rome and Naples taken and the Balkan Army no longer being a threat the Allied and Soviet forces paused waiting for reinforcements. After two months of intense fighting the war was decidedly in their favor. The war was on their terms now, and they could decide them.
Those guns will surely be useful!
With all of the Balkan nations and armies haven fallen to the allied forces Montenegro was the final state to fall. The Soviet Union granted most of the Balkans to the Balkan Socialist Union. This created much controversy among the Allies as they demanded the rights to either share the burden of the occupation of the Balkans, or to restore the Kingdoms of Romania and Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union on the other hand believed that it was Magyars and Soviets who had taken the brunt of the casualties in the Balkans and they were to occupy and bring order to the region until peace terms was dictated and enforced. Still the Allies got minor occupation zones in Macedonia and Montenegro and occupied all of Istria and Albania as minor concessions. Trotsky and the Soviets said that the regions under the Balkan Union was merely tempoairly to restore order and until the fate of the Balkans was decided. Rákosi and the Hungarian government, on the other hand prepared their occupied territories as states in the Balkan Union. The Socialist Republic of Croatia was to be an autnomous republic inside Hungary, meanwhile the People's Republic of Slovenia, People's Republic of Serbia and the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was meant to be states of their own within the Balkan Union. The Hungarians wanted to occupy Romania, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Macedonia aswell, but the USSR promptly refused this. The official reason was to not stretch Hungarian resources thin and to prevent ethnical conflicts and to not antagonize the Allies further. However these areas were rich in metals and oil that were vital for the Soviet war industry.*****
The final battle for Italy begins..
By the end of June a total of four Soviet Fronts and several Allied armies was in southern Italy, ready to take on the heel of Italy. On the 30th the Soviets was given the green light. In the speech that greenlighted the operation Trotsky said "we will now forever end fascism in Europe".
Soviet soldiers in Italy.
But the war was far from over. Where one wondered when, not if, Italy would be the next of the domino bricks to fall the situation had changed drastically. In the Far East the Soviet Union faced several crippling defeats, and once Italy fell they had to take on all of China and Japan. Millions of men had lost their lives, and the Soviet forces was out of reserves and millions more was likely to fall in the coming battle against the Chinese and Japanese. And the preceding events had soured the relations between the Allies and the Internationale as the former was suspecting the latter for wanting to end their empires and to create empires of their own in Europe. Meanwhile the USSR was soon ready to install their ultimatum to Poland: "Western Belarus and Ukraine or War". The war was now in the fourth year for the Allies, and the second one for the Internationale. Would the war end before Christmas or last for four more years or would a new war erupt between the two allied blocs before the year came to an end?
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*0 in manpower, not much in political power, only gaining 0.42 each day due to ideology boosting. So it will take a lot of time before we can have service by requirement.
**Demand eastern Poland is a choice between giving us eastern Poland or ending up in a war. The other option is that Poland turn to a satelite, and they gain the Oder Neisse line (or a little east of it due to how the states are set up) in exchange for eastern Poland. But then need to be at peace, and it is much funnier to risk war!
***As I either jumped over the news event of the Fall of Rome or it didn't come due to Belgium officially taking Rome, I based the fall of Rome on the Allied, Soviet and French events in HoI4.
****Most of the Italians troops got destroyed, story wise they capitluated. The remaining few was actually evacuated by Italy to Italy, but they got sunk to the bottom of the sea. This universe's version of an Italian failed Dunkirk. At least I'm glad the 47 Italian divisions (or what it was) weren't used to get to Italy sooner.
*****It wouldn't look as good if they got an exclave in Bulgaria, and I do need the metals of Montenegro and the oil of Romania. Now I didn't anticipate communist Greater Hungary to exist, let alone it be named the "Balkan Socialist Union". So this opened up very intersting choices, should the Balkan Socialist Union be just WW1 Hungary, a Pan Balkan Union or a compromise? Interesting times ahead of us!
Mussolini promising a final victory. Sound familiar.
Germany had fallen, but the war was far from over. Mussolini, the Leader of Italy, made sure for the world to remember so. He held a grand parade and a grand speech going on about how Italy would prevail in the end and dominate the world as the Roman Empire had. Where for the western or eastern observer such a speech looked bombastic Mussolini needed to give his men a reason to fight. He needed to to convunce them that they could hold on the combined forces of liberalism and capitalism, that despite their defeats in Germany, the Balkans and the Sahara they would come out on top. And perhaps he needed to convince himself the most. Trotsky announced on the radio from Moscow: "First Berlin fell, then all of Germany. The two first pieces in a game of dominos have fallen. One by one the pieces fall, ready to claim the next one. Yesterday we took Berlin, today we take Rome, tomorrow we take Tokyo".
Canadian troops in Northern Africa.
While the Red Army had battled the Italian and German armies in the Balkans and Germany for nearly two years another vicious fight had taken the deserts of Africa by storm. Shortly following the introduction of the British Empire in the war the former French colonies (then under Germany) was dragged into a vicious war with the British Empire. Initially it was if the Axis would take Egypt and with them the Suez Canal. Rommel, the Desert Fox, and his Italian allies had pressed the British forces all the way back to Cairo. But soon reinforcements from the Commonwealth helped out their British brothers. Here in northern Africa Canadian, Kiwi, Australian and South-African forces fought bravely. The Afrika Korps and Italians was pressed back from Cairo, almost claiming the Kingdom of Egypt for themselves. Then the Spanish Republic intervened and took Morocco and Algerie. The Axis was now facing two fronts, and when USA got dragged into the war Patton and Bradley and their tanks smashed through the German lines. Now as Germany had surrendered so did the Afrika Korps. But the Italians remained in northern Africa having fortified their lines in the colony of Libya. It remained to be seen if the Italian forces in Africa would retreat back to Italy or hold the lines to prevent an Allied invasion of Sicily.
Let the games begin.
Despite the allied numerical superiority the Italian forces had managed to reclaim Piedmonte and had even invaded southern France, for a moment threatening to again collapse France. But following the German defeat large amounts of Soviet (and other) forces was relocated to Italy. The invasion plan of Italy was simple. The Baltic and Leningrad Fronts would strike from the west and east and meet just north of the Apennines mountains taking the industrialised north to their fold. Allied troops joined in on this plan, with the majority of British and American troops striking from the east. The Air Forces of all nations started their bombing campaigns of Italy at this moment hitting communication lines, ports, forts, cities and troops alike. An American general remarked "We will bomb them back to the stoneage, then we will roll over them with our tanks".
Despite the arrows we're not making so much gains, but the Hero of Spain will blitz through Istria and Croatia.
But another crucial part of the plan was Rokossovsky's invasion of Istria and Slovenia. Italy viewed the Balkans as their natural sphere of influence and had invested the majority of their forces to protect the Balkans from falling to the Soviet Union. However now as Italy herself was threatened by a Soviet invasion it made little sense to hold the Balkans as a buffer zone. While the navies and airforces prevented the Italians from evacuating by sea the road to Italy through the tiny strip of Istria and Slovenia was still open. Rokossovsky and his 1st Byelorussian Front was tasked with spearheading into Slovenia and Istria and reach to the Adriatic Sea. It was hoped this overwhelming force close the "Road to Italy" and prevent an Italian retreat. Meanwhile in the Balkans the Red Army ha a hard time breaking through the lines of Romania, Bulgaria and the various ex-Yugoslav armies. They were ordere to halt their offensives and wait for Rokossovsky to close the Balkans.
A magnificent victory for the motherland!
Despite the Japanese Empire commanding a superior Navy in the Far East a handful of Japanese and American destroyers scored a minor victory in the Sea of Japan while protecting supplies coming into Vladivostok to the isolated Far East Armies. This would normally not be seen as a major victory, but it was used in the propaganda machinery for all its worth. The Soviet Army and Navy had seen nothing but defeat in the Far East, barely escaping complete destruction. It was used to show the Soviet citizens and soldiers of the East that the Japanese could be beaten, and the Soviet-American friendship and cooperation was reported to be on the highest.
We'll stand our ground.
But the situation was still an all time low for the far eastern Soviets. The Armies of the Far East was confined to a small strip of land that could be broken at anytime. The Japanese sure tried to do just that. Their plan was to strike in the middle of the Soviet forces to split them into two seperate pockets and to take the airport and sea port in the north to prevent a Soviet evacuation in case of the forces being split in two. Despite this morale was reported, with an emphasis on reported, to be on an all time high among the defenders. An image was released of Soviet marines holding up the Navy's flag over Vladivostok saying "We will stand our ground, no matter what. We stand our ground, even I end up in a grave. I will do my part for my beloved Motherland, in the name of Vladivostok, the ones I love and our ancestors who bravely fought for mother Russia".
Perhps there won't be any more friends to fight for freedom.
Anyway, the Soviet High Command had to face the grim situation that had just developed: they were out of reserves. Millions of young men had died in the service for their homeland, and now the USSR had ran out of manpower - save for the ones they had in the field. Efforts was made to draft laws to get even more young men, and perhaps women, into the ranks of the Red Army. But that would take the time, especially as much political effort was reserved for agents and various activities to promote revolutions in Norway and Poland. In an act of solidarity the French government would give the Soviet Union a substantial amount of trucks and other vehicles to aid their war effort. Despite this the lack of manpower was a real issue for the Red Army, an American journalist wrote in an article "(...) the Russians have made great sacrifice in the name of world peace. The other day I saw around 50 Russians go out on a patrol here in Italy. They returned with only 32 men. They went out on another mission a few days later, and then they had even less men among them. I asked them why they couldn't be reinforced and why they threw themself away needlessly. They answered there isn't going to come any "comrades" to reinforce them. They told me they had to do their part, as so many before them, to end the threat to their homeland. Such is the Soviet sacrifice. Where we in the States speak of the Lost Generation, the Soviets put us all to shame. An entire generation of young men have given their lives for our liberty".*
The
By the 19th of April the Allies ahd made substantial advances into northern Italy, surrounding Venice and nearing the Po river and having crossed the river of Adige. But it was not the work of Vlasov, one of the key players of the Trotskyist revolution or coup (depending on how you view it). It was British and American forces who pushed forward. The Leningrad Front under Vlasov merely protected against Italian counterattacks. It was the Allied forces who took the brunt of the fighting in this theater. The Italian mountains proved to be difficult to conquer, but the Italians had relative few forces to protect their lines. By the 19th the majority of the Italians had even surrendered or was trapped in the canal city of Venice. Vlasov ordered his armies to make a final push toward the Po river. If that river was reached their objective was achieved, and they only needed to wait for the forces from the west to link up.
Deja-vu.
Despite the successes in the west, the east saw only defeat, followed by nothing more than defeats. The divisions in the area, now only counting 23 in total, was ordered to retreat to Vladivostok to prevent an encirclement. The Japanese was pausing for now, but it was feared they were preparing for a final and decisive assault.
We'll claim what's ours, by force if it is needed to.
Meanwhile the Soviet Union was in secrecy preparing their demand of the eastern provinces. Both by preparing the Army for an invasion, the governments of Ukraine and Belarus to absorb these new lands and the local Soviets to rebel against the Poles. Ever since the Soviet liberation of Poland they had upheld a military occupation of eastern Poland and set up local Soviets that was the de-facto rulers of eastern Poland. They wanted to take advantage of that by the soviets of eastern Poland officially pleading the USSR for help against an oppressive and racial Polish regime. In turn the USSR would demand eastern Poland to protect their fellow Ukranians and Belorussians or they would go to war. Molotov on the otherhand wanted to make a more calculated and pacifist path. He wanted to offer Poland "protection" seeing as the Allies failed to protect Poland in exchange for eastern Poland, meanwhile Poland would be granted eastern German territories. But Trotsky didn't have any patience for that, as he claimed that would only work after the war and that the workers of eastern Poland was "eager to join the ranks of the Red Army in our common struggle". Molotov is said to have warned Trotsky that they might end up in a state of war with not only Poland, but the United Kingdom and the United States. Trotsky merely replied "I have gone to war to liberate our people against the Polish once. I would do so again, and this time around there will be no miracle on the Vistula this time around nor any Stalin to sabotage the fires of the revolution". But the Soviets viewed the West as weak and that they would gladly sacrifice Polish integrity to keep peace with the USSR. It was a high gamble nonetheless, and only time would choose if they would succeed.**
Anything but the Afghans! No superpower have ever won against them.
While the Soviet political elite overlooked the May Day Parade at the Red Square the Japanese had funded a coup in Kabul to overhtrow the monarchy. They had gained to support of the majority of Afghan elders, warlords and tribal leaders and they were promised territorial gains in India and the Soviet Union. If the Japanese hoped to achieve anything is doubtful, but it diverted British and Soviet attention away from the Far East and toward Afghanistan, giving them time for their conquest of the Far East.
A jab from the right, a powerpunch from the left.
Back to Europe. In Italy the battle proven Meretskov ordered his Baltic Front to advance toward their allied forces in the east after over a month of constant allied bombing. Along with him French, Spanish and Magyar forces joined the fight. But British and American Shermans became the speartip of the campaign as they rolled into Italy interior nearing the historical city of Genoa. But the fiercest fights took place in the Alps. Anyway this offensive would be test and evaluate the condition of the Italian Army and people. It was here the majority, save for the Balkans, of Italian forces was located. If they broke through the Italian alps and reached Milan it would be a crippling blow to the "Roman Empire".
To the moon!
When Soviet forces rolled through Germany they came across many German rocket sites and factories, most famously the one in Penemünde. German rocket scientists was captured and they were along with the rocket sites enrolled in the Soviet "Diversity Program". They were to create experimental rockets that would not only give technology to improve the Trotsky Orgels, but also of far more strategic capabilities.
The Allies prevail in Africa.
On the fifth of May after four years of battle the North African Campaign ended as troops from New Zealand, Canada and Britain forced the last Italian forces in Libya (and Ethiopia) to surrender. The Italian Empire was no more and Sicily was exposed to invasion and bomb raids.
Round number I-lost-count start in the Balkans.
Following the Italian defeat in Africa the forces of Rokossovksy was in place. On the day of the 10th the forces was ordered to make an all out assault on the Italian lines in Croatia and Slovenia. Meanwhile the many Soviet divisions in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria was ordered to resume their offensives. This time around they had been reinforced with new arms and gotten plenty of rest and recreation, meanwhile the Balkan forces had been under constant areal bombardment and faced communist and nationalist partisan groups. In the first few hours the Red Army saw huge advances and it was only the forces of Rokossovky that faced stiff opposition from Italian troops who wanted to break into Italy proper.
Last pocket of resistance in the North..
Meanwhile to the west all of the major cities in the north had fallen to the allied forces. Only the port of La Spezia remained save for a few pockets in the Alps. French, Commonwealth, Soviet, Spanish, British and American forces had completely overwhelmed the Italian defenders and ravaged the countryside. Many believed the Italians to put up just as a fierce, if not fiercer, resistance as the Germans did in their lands. But that was not the case. With low morale, underequipped and facing a superior enemy the proud Italian soldier faced certain defeat - at the expense of their countryside. An American soldier of Italian heritage wrote "I heard so much about the land of my parents during my childhood. About the beautiful country and their rich culture. But when I came here after so many years I found nothing but death and destruction. This war have ended the rich culture and beautiful country with its grenades and tanks".
All roads lead to Rome.
The two fronts united on the 17th of May and according to the plan the Soviet Leningrad Front spearheaded ahead of Allied troops and ahead of the Baltic Front to drive southward to get to Rome. The Apennines mountains was taken and the road to Rome was more or less open with few rivers, marshes and mountains. Perfect conditions for the massive mechanized forces of the USSR, USA and UK.
We did in 13 days what we couldn't do in almost two years: conquer Romania.
And then on the 23rd of May the next piece in the game of dominos fell. Romania who was officially the reason for hostility between the Internationale and the Axis fell. After two years of a horrible war and millions of dead on all sides the Romanians surrendered. This was concerning for Bulgaria as the majority of their forces was located in the Carpathian mountains cut off from their homeland and supplies. Would Bulgaria be the next piece to fall?
Scenes from the Battle of Rome.
On the 25th of May the British 8th Army (supported by Canadian, Australian, Kiwi, Polish, Indian and South African forces) reached the ancient capital of Rome. The outskirts of the city had been bombed for months and reduced to rubble. The city itself was spared due to its cultural value. It was believed the British forces could simply walk into the capital and take it as the defenses had been reduced to ruins and the Italian forces had performed poorly. But they were shocked by the sheer tenacity of the Italian defenders. The bombed out ruins only made for the defending Italians to gain a much more favorable position. The British failed to break through the lines on the first day and had to wait for the American 5th Army to reinforce them. Meanwhile American and Soviet armies moved on to encircle Rome and Allied airborne divisions prepared to jump on the city. The battle raged on for days with steep casualties on both sides. Both knew that the fall of Rome would be an important milestone in the Italian campaign. If Rome fell it was believed it would mean the end to organized resistance to the ever advancing Allied armies on the peninsula.
Not so independent anymore.
To the east of Rome, across the sea the armies under Rokossovsky had mostly reached their goals and pressed the bulk of the Italian forces to a few ports. British, French and American forces soon joined the Soviets on their effort to end the Italian threat, but they faced fierce resistance in the remaining ports of Zara and one south of Trieste. The Italians held their ground as well they had nothing else to do and they hoped for the Italian Navy to evacuate them to mainland Italy. And that was the Italian plan, to evacuate their forces trapped in Croatia and Istria, but their navy faced severe opposition from the superior US and Royal Navies. For now they were on their own. Meanwhile during the offensives into Croatia, Zagreb fell and in turn Croatia. The German funded Croatian army surrendered en masse and this contributed to the worsening strategic situation for Italy and Bulgaria. Yet another piece had fallen, who would fall next?
S**t.
It was a curse over the Soviet Union. When they made major gains in the west, they were met with major defeats in the east. The Japanese had succeeded in breaking the Soviet forces in half, and the Far East Front was now down to only 22 divisions - with no possibility to reinforce their growing losses. The Soviets caught in the northern pocket was for now holding on, desperately clinging to life. But it was only a matter of time before the Japanese would take the last airport and their seaport. Was this only the tip of the iceberg?
Canadian soldiers in Italy.
In Italy the battle of Rome worsened for everyday. Despite reinforcements from all the nations in Italy the losses was high on all sides. The battle of Rome turned vicious and it was just another chapter in the many bloody urban combats of the war. Among the allies soldiers got increasingly large amount of "shellshock" and desertion. A Canadian officer remarked in a letter to home "the further you are from the sounds of guns, the less you understand".
If Horthy had done it, it would have been Hungarian Imperalism. Now it is Proletarian Internationalism.
In Hungary Rákosi became emboldened by his personal effort to secure Slovakia, Transylvania and Vojvodina. Most of pre-WWI Hungary was restored and he proclaimed Hungary to now be the "Balkan Union of Socialist States" or simply the Balkan Socialist Union. He proclaimed that the People's Republic of Hungary (including Transylvania and Vojvodina being autonomous republics within Hungary) was one of the states of the new Union with the Slovak People's Republic (minus the Hungarian claimed territories of southern and eastern Slovakia) being the other state. The Balkan Socialist Union then advocated for all of the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania to join into this Balkan Federation. Socialists and Communist around the world was generally positive to this development citing it as an example of Proletarian Internationalism, and that Hungary might unite the various people of the powderkeg under the banner of socialism where Yugoslavia had fallen to Serbian nationalism. The governments in exile of Czecoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia on the otherhand claimed this was the Hungarian Irredentism they had feared prior to the war and demanded their borders restored. The western powers generally agreed to this and wanted national self detirmination, and of course for the Balkans to not fall to a Moscow loyal communist regime. Trotsky and the USSR was interestingly enough quiet on the topic not giving any promises to either side.
Italian Expeditionary Forces in Serbia.
Meanwhile the Italian forces in the Balkans was under extreme pressure. The enemies had surrounded them completely and their homeland could fall at any moment. The Italian divisions was deemed to be enough to grind the Italian campaign to a stillstand. But they had no means to get to Italy. Meanwhile the Soviet, US and British airforces upped their bombing raids on the Italian positions and ports, hoping to terrorize them to surrender.
Italian troops in German uniforms surrendering to Communards.
Meanwhile forces from France entered their sector of Rome as the last Italian garrison melted away into to the countryside, either to keep fighting as partisans or to return home. The French troops moved quickly to occupy all government buildings in their sector, and it was only a matter of time before Rome would fall as a long procession of French soldiers and armored vehicles mounted for an assault into Vie del Corso..
Empires come and go.
But Italy was not the next domino brick to fall. It was the Serbian Empire (ironic as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia covered much more land and peoples than the "Empire" ever did) who was the next to fall. This was a severe blow to Bulgaria and Italy. They were now truly isolated to Allied and Soviet assaults.
Speaking of fall of Empires, British troops parading in Rome.
Rome, the 'Eternal City,' fell to the advancing Soviet spearheads. As Italian forces fell back, Russian troops fanned out into the city and dealt with the few remaining pockets of resistance in their assigned sectors. Most historical landmarks appear to have suffered little damage, although the Pantheon was raked by machine gun fire. Meanwhile the Allied troops pushed into their own operational zones. The city was now, on the 6th of June under military occupation, being split between American, British, Soviet and French occupation zones. The victorious powers would hold a long parade in Vie del Corso to celebrate their victory, but also to showcase their power of destruction to one and another. As Rome fell the ability for Italy to continue the war was questioned, however Mussolini along with the King and the government fled to Sicily to set up a provisional capital there. Meanwhile the Vatican asked the Allies and the Soviets to respect the neutrality of the Holy See. The Allies respected this entirley, however the Soviets positioned their troops and artillery in a ring around the Vatican city, guns pointing toward His Holiness.***
We've been visiting Rome, now it's time to taste that famous pizza from Naples.
When Rome fell the Italian forces collapsed allowing the Allies and Internationale to make significant advances to the south in the four following days. However just north of Naples the Italians regained their fighting spirit and stopped the allies. For now. It seemed that Naples and the Italian defnders would fall back to Sicily at any moment under the sheer weight of the invading force.
Italians who are much more eager to return home than to die by the hands of the Soviets.
Soon the fall of Rome reached the Italian forces in the Balkans. The majority of the Italian divisions surrendered to Soviet or Allied forces. Only a few, the hard core remained in Balkans. The once mighty Italian Balkan Expedition was no longer a threat to the eastern flank of the forces who poured down into Italy.****
Another one bites the dust.
With the majority of their forces trapped in Transylvania and Serbia, Croatia and Italy no longer being able to protect their northern and western flanks Bulgaria fell as they were attacked from the north, east and west by the Soviets, and the south by the Greeks and British. Only two pieces of the domino set remained.
The last Italians.. We'll take you to Italy.
Despite the majority of the Italian troops in the Balkans had surrendered, a few remained. Seeing that they had nothing to lose the Italian high command ordered an evacuation of 9 Italian divisions. One would remain to give the others a chance to escape. Despite the bravery of those who were left behind, they couldn't be evacuated. The combined forces of the US, Royal and French navies was just too great. The port of Zara had been layed with mines, and if they managed to get through the mines they had to get through the many destroyers and light cruisers patrolling the shallow sea. And then against battlecruisers, battleships, heavy cruisers and aircraft carriers waited on them, bombarding them with their heavy guns. All the while they were hunted by submarines and bombed from the air. An Italian soldier wrote "I thought I was coming home. But I realised death came to me. We barely escaped the advancing Soviet forces as we poured into the ship that was to carry us out. Meanwhile fighters and bombers strafed the beaches and ships, setting countless ships ablaze. Our transports ran toward the sea, leaving countless behind as they were bombarded by artillery on the beaches. But it was not over. The ship next to us hit a mine, meanwhile in the horizon we saw major explosions as what was left of our navy was picked apart by the big guns. Then several squadrons of fighter bombers dived straight toward us, followed by other squadrons of torpedo bombers. All I could see was death and chaos. We were bombed from the air and under the sea. Those in front of us were picked apart by the navies, and on the land we could hear the dreadful sound of the Trotsky Orgels. I realised I'd be better of being off the ship. So I jumped out. A few minutes several torpedos hit the transport ship. I was covered in oil and frigthened to my very core that the fires would consume me. I passed out, and when I woke up I was aboard a US vessel on my way back to Italy".
The Leningrad and Baltic Fronts are far from home.
Soon Naples fell, and with Rome and Naples taken and the Balkan Army no longer being a threat the Allied and Soviet forces paused waiting for reinforcements. After two months of intense fighting the war was decidedly in their favor. The war was on their terms now, and they could decide them.
Those guns will surely be useful!
With all of the Balkan nations and armies haven fallen to the allied forces Montenegro was the final state to fall. The Soviet Union granted most of the Balkans to the Balkan Socialist Union. This created much controversy among the Allies as they demanded the rights to either share the burden of the occupation of the Balkans, or to restore the Kingdoms of Romania and Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union on the other hand believed that it was Magyars and Soviets who had taken the brunt of the casualties in the Balkans and they were to occupy and bring order to the region until peace terms was dictated and enforced. Still the Allies got minor occupation zones in Macedonia and Montenegro and occupied all of Istria and Albania as minor concessions. Trotsky and the Soviets said that the regions under the Balkan Union was merely tempoairly to restore order and until the fate of the Balkans was decided. Rákosi and the Hungarian government, on the other hand prepared their occupied territories as states in the Balkan Union. The Socialist Republic of Croatia was to be an autnomous republic inside Hungary, meanwhile the People's Republic of Slovenia, People's Republic of Serbia and the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was meant to be states of their own within the Balkan Union. The Hungarians wanted to occupy Romania, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Macedonia aswell, but the USSR promptly refused this. The official reason was to not stretch Hungarian resources thin and to prevent ethnical conflicts and to not antagonize the Allies further. However these areas were rich in metals and oil that were vital for the Soviet war industry.*****
The final battle for Italy begins..
By the end of June a total of four Soviet Fronts and several Allied armies was in southern Italy, ready to take on the heel of Italy. On the 30th the Soviets was given the green light. In the speech that greenlighted the operation Trotsky said "we will now forever end fascism in Europe".
Soviet soldiers in Italy.
But the war was far from over. Where one wondered when, not if, Italy would be the next of the domino bricks to fall the situation had changed drastically. In the Far East the Soviet Union faced several crippling defeats, and once Italy fell they had to take on all of China and Japan. Millions of men had lost their lives, and the Soviet forces was out of reserves and millions more was likely to fall in the coming battle against the Chinese and Japanese. And the preceding events had soured the relations between the Allies and the Internationale as the former was suspecting the latter for wanting to end their empires and to create empires of their own in Europe. Meanwhile the USSR was soon ready to install their ultimatum to Poland: "Western Belarus and Ukraine or War". The war was now in the fourth year for the Allies, and the second one for the Internationale. Would the war end before Christmas or last for four more years or would a new war erupt between the two allied blocs before the year came to an end?
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*0 in manpower, not much in political power, only gaining 0.42 each day due to ideology boosting. So it will take a lot of time before we can have service by requirement.
**Demand eastern Poland is a choice between giving us eastern Poland or ending up in a war. The other option is that Poland turn to a satelite, and they gain the Oder Neisse line (or a little east of it due to how the states are set up) in exchange for eastern Poland. But then need to be at peace, and it is much funnier to risk war!
***As I either jumped over the news event of the Fall of Rome or it didn't come due to Belgium officially taking Rome, I based the fall of Rome on the Allied, Soviet and French events in HoI4.
****Most of the Italians troops got destroyed, story wise they capitluated. The remaining few was actually evacuated by Italy to Italy, but they got sunk to the bottom of the sea. This universe's version of an Italian failed Dunkirk. At least I'm glad the 47 Italian divisions (or what it was) weren't used to get to Italy sooner.
*****It wouldn't look as good if they got an exclave in Bulgaria, and I do need the metals of Montenegro and the oil of Romania. Now I didn't anticipate communist Greater Hungary to exist, let alone it be named the "Balkan Socialist Union". So this opened up very intersting choices, should the Balkan Socialist Union be just WW1 Hungary, a Pan Balkan Union or a compromise? Interesting times ahead of us!
- 1
Except for, wait for it, the Mongols.
And possibly the British too if you put some beer googles on and down 15 pints.
I had to chuckle to see the mightly materials haul you got from Montenegro.
It really is true - for every succes in the West there is a corresponding defeat in the Far East. Thankfully all the successes in the West provide the perfect propaganda coverage.
It really is true - for every succes in the West there is a corresponding defeat in the Far East. Thankfully all the successes in the West provide the perfect propaganda coverage.
Hm. So if we liberate Mongolia they will save us from utter destruction? And since we've taken Germany and Czechia we should be able to feed the Brits with enough beer for a while!
Yes those guns will surely make it all the way to Tokyo! But we will win in the end (I hope) it is the
It would be an interesting historical irony, since the Russians (their forebears anyway) were the ones that started killing the Mongols to form their own kingdom. And also one of the major reasons why GB bothered to keep a (good) land army after 1820. And also, now that I think of it, the country that solidified the 'for god's sake, don't try to invade and occupy Afghanistan' trope.
But yeah, if you reverse the clock seven hundred years for Mongolia and tell the Brits they can tax anything they claim in the march to the Far East, that should do it.
All of history have then really been about the USSR saving Mongolia, and Britain the USSR from Afgahnistan?
Or perhaps this will just be the Great Game all over again.. I suppose neither UK nor USSR like it if Afghanistan fall to either of them.Anyway, the next update should be up tommorow, Saturday or Sunday
Chapter 20.
Chapter 20: Eastern Migration.
Trotsky on a fishing trip in Italy.
The war was over in most of Europe, only parts of a greatly weakened Italy was left. Corpses filled the plains of Europe with even fighter pilots reporting a foul stench. Following the conquest of northern Italy Trotsky moved with the Soviet high command to Venice to make this famous city their seat of power. When they were not planning the war or a post war Europe Trotsky was reported to take several fishing trips in the Adriatic sea. Soviet propaganda used this, among other pictures, to picture the leader of the USSR as a down to earth man and Allied propaganda used it to picture him as "Good ol' uncle Leo". But where Trotsky and his comrades enjoyed the rich culture of Italy, the rest of the nation suffered.
The war will be over by Christmas.
By the 6th of July most of Italy was firmly under allied control. But as they moved south from the ruined city of Naples they met stiff resistance in the mountains and hills of southern Italy. Taranto and the boot of Italy was the target of the advancing allied forces. The Italians knew that if they lost the vital sea port of Taranto they would forever lose control of southern Italy and Sicily would be open for the taking. All that was between the invasion forces and Taranto was a few mountain ranges and hills. The defending Italian forces dug into their positions knowing that allied armored and air supremacy could not be utilized to the fullest here. Soviet, British and American forces headed into the hills and fought a fanatic enemy. But they had fire supremacy and thousands of artillery shells and Trotsky Orgels was fired into the hills and mountains hoping to "bomb them into submission". Once the mountains were taken, allied troops would pour into the flat lands of southern Italy.
Once more into the fray!
But it was not only in Italy conflict was brewing. In London and Washington D.C the many phones and telegrams was constantly ringing. On the 7th of July the Soviet ambassador in Warsaw had issued an ultimatum, not unlike the one Hitler did in '38: "Cede Western Ukraine and Western Belarus to the Ukranian and Belorussian SSRs or face war". The Polish government was given 48 hours to give their answer, meanwhile the Soviet embassady in Warsaw and other Allied nations was evacuated. Soviet forces in Germany and the Balkans was put on high alert and ordered to prepare for an invasion of not only Poland, but allied controlled Germany and Italy. The Allied governments was caught completely off guard, and before they managed to advise Poland on the situation the Polish government reported to Washington and London that they would not be bullied into submission by the USSR. "Yesterday it was Danzig and Hitler, today it is Eastern Poland and Trotsky. But we shall overcome them just as we overcame Germany". The Polish Army was again mobilized and was prepared to hold off the Red Army until the Allies could evacuate them.
We welcome our Ukranian and Belorussian comrades back - and their manpower.
But the British government had not given up their policy of appeasment under Lord Halifax and history repeated itself. Moreover France declared they would join the side of the USSR in an eventual conflict with Poland and tore apart their uniliteral guarantee of indepence to Poland. US and UK chipped in to prevent and open conflict with the Internationale and advised the Polish government to cede eastern Poland. The Polish government, however, didn't listen. They still stood firmly on their belief that war was the only solution. However on the 8th the Soviets created by the NKVD and Red Army in eastern Poland rose up against the Polish government and took control of the areas from Poland declaring themself as "The People's Republics of western Ukraine and Belarus". The Polish government responded by declaring martial law and was prepared to send in the troops to eastern Poland to restore order, but NKVD military units had meanwhile moved into the area and the Red Army was amassing along their western border. War seemed inevitable. On the 9th the communist and socialist unions and parties that had been funded by the USSR was frustrated and feared an open conflict with the USSR and declared a general strike, hoping to cripple the Polish economy and state to prevent war. On the 11th hour Churchill intervened and managed to persuade the Polish government to give up eastern Poland for the sake of peace in Europe (threatening to end the alliance with Poland if they chose to not cede eastern Poland) and made vague promises of Poland getting lands in eastern Germany. Churchill then reportedly said “Poor Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax believed they could trust Hitler. They were wrong, but I don’t think I’m wrong about Trotsky", it remained to be seen if he could be trusted.*
Soon the people of Central Europe will know the superior rule of socialism.
Before Soviet-Polish debacle the majority of the Red Army in Europe had been pulled away from Italy and was given the duty to occupy the Balkans and their German-Austrian-Czecho sectors. While the Allied forces had focused on invading Italy a power vaccum was created in Germany etc. Most famous was the Werewolf Guerillas in Germany who refused to acknowledge defeat and set up shadow governments of their own. Like the Freikorps before the rise of the Third Reich disgruntled veterans and civilians joined these militias and wanted to liberate Germany. But allied forces soon came to their assigned occupation zones and ruthlessly put down the rebellions in anti-partisan operations. The Soviet forces who was sent to occupy central Europe was also ordered to use their time for manuevers and excercises (along with the anti-partisan operations) to prepare for the war in the Far East. The Red Army and NKVD also used their time to set up the foundations of communist puppet regimes.
Only Trotsky and his comrades can decide what is real art.
Following the annexation of eastern Polan the official Soviet art style of Socialist Realism was increased. It focused on the sacrifice of the Soviet soldier and worker, it romanticised the working class to inspire love to the workers and pictured capitalism as an imperialist tool to oppress the workers of the world. Trotsky and Lenin recieved increased worship in this art style. It was hoped that after 70 days of extensive funding of Socialist Realist projects the people would be more unified and fall into the doctrine of Communism - especially in occupied Europe. It was hoped that this would in turn give the Soviet governments greater capability to change conscription laws and get hundreds of thousands of new recuits to the Red Army.**
Tha Italian forces are split in half.
But border conflicts in Poland and Socialist Realism aside there was still a war that was being fought in Italy. By late evening of the 13th Soviet and Allied forces broke through on the southernmost mountain ranges and gained control of the area. For days the Italian defenders in the mountains had been barraged by allie and Soviet artillery and rockets without end, along with bombers dropping their loads from the skies. This softened up the Italian defenses to such an extent that the allied forces was now in the process of taking all of the mountain ranges. A lone Italian infantry division who had been pushed to the toe of Italy was ordered to counterattack, and seemed they would retake the mountains opening up for the Italian defenders near Taranto to evacuate to Sicily. But Soviet reinforcements was underway and it was unlikely they could retake the mountain.
The Italians are proving to be somewhat more resilient than anticipated.
By the 19th the counterattack failed and Italian forces had been pushed away from the mountains to the plains near Taranto except for some Venezuelan volunteer forces holding the mountain - to their death. The defending Italians was resoundly defeated and was now ordered to create a defensive perimeter around Taranto.
The road to Taranto is open.
Two days later the last mountain range outsie of Taranto was taken, and allied forces continued on their advance to Taranto hoping to take the defenders before they could entrench themself and southward to Sicily to prevent Italian reinforcements on their southern flank.
The battle of Taranto begins.
By the 23rd the Italian forces who had made a perimeter around Taranto was decisively beaten back to Taranto proper. Several Soviet and allied divisions was now taking up their positions around Taranto in the west, northwest and southwest barraging to city with artillery and from the air. The RAF and the airforces of US meanwhile launched a surprise attack from carieer task groups on the ports of Taranto, wiping out the remaining Italian naval fleets and merchant fleet. Italy had now lost control of their navy and was unable to ship out their troops trapped in Taranto, meanwhile Soviet forces was moving into the city, albeit at high casualties.***
The race to the toe of Italy is on.
While the Baltic and Leningrad Fronts focused on taking Taranto, the Front under Rokossovsky was given an another order. They were to rush toward the toe of Italy and dig in. Reports had it that a sizeble Italian force was preparing to leave Sicily and launch an offensive into the southern flank of the invasion force. It was doubtful this force could throw the allies out of Italy, but it would prolong the war and bring about unecessary losses. Rokossovsky was then ordered to thrust ahead in full speed and hold the tip of southern Italy. Moreover if a sizeble force was threatining the strait of Sicily, the Italians had to send the majority of their forces there to not risk an invasion on Sicily.
We won the race and the following battle.
Nearing midnight during on the 27th the two first Soviet infanty divisions reached their destination. Soon the first Italian forces entered in boats and landingcrafts. As the Soviet forces had just arrived mere hours, if not minutes, before the Italians assaulted the beachead they couldn't make for proper defensive measures. Still the Italians suffered heavy casualties. When they landed they were barraged by thousands of artillery shells, meanwhile Soviet dive bombers and fighter bombers strafed the Italian forces on the beach, moving over the strait and in Sicily. Soon the Royal Navy and US Navy moved in with the Swedish Navy and fired upon the Italian forces. This move effectively blocked off the strait, trapping large parts of infantry divisions on the beachead and the entire armored division. Days later the Soviet Union counterattacked in full force and the Italians was driven back to the sea. A Soviet tank commander described the situation as "we rolled on with our tanks in full assault. The Italians had barely managed to create a beachead and we could see the smokes and fires that littered the horizon. We stopped at nothing. Following a massive artillery barrage we rolled over our enemies - literally. But they still refused to give up. Either they were fanatic or they were scared, but they ran into the burning sea, even tanks backtracked ablaze into the sea. Those who did not die due to the flames or smoke was dragged down to the bottom of the sea by their sheer weight. Those who didn't drown fell to our machine guns. The sea and beach remained red for weeks after this".****
Italy finally surrenders Taranto and soon the heel of Italy.
In the early morning (or late hours of the night) of 29th of July allied forces was gaining the upperhand in the battle of Taranto. After six bloody days of combat inside the city itself the allied forces had taken the crucial areas in the city and was starting to control the area. However it would take nearly three more days before the entire city was under allied control. Now the Italians had been pushed out of the city itself, but was still defending one of the many ports in the region. Still it was expected that the Italians and Venezuelans would surrender in a matter of days, if not hours.
Going over the strait is suicidal. We need to make a naval invasion of our own.
Allied and Soviet commanders went over the drawing table on the 2nd of August and concluded that while they had numerical superiority a direct attack across the strait and into Messina would be too costly. Instead a superior Soviet and American force was to be held across the strait to confuse the Italians. Messina would be bombed day and night, the city proper and the defensive entrenchments. This kept the Italians at their toe and away from the real invasion locations. The Front under Vasilevsky was also ordered to set up an invasion force from Naples. 10 divisions would strike to the port just west of Palermo in a 70 days time, in the net 70 days another 10 divisions would strike just west of Messina. This would trap the forces of Messina in a pocket and prevent them from moving west to Palermo.
Even better, let the Allies make a naval invasion for us.
But the invasion force of Vasilevsky was just another ruse. The invasion plans for the forces of Vaslevsky was leaked to the Italians. Instead American and Commonwealth forces invaded southern most Italy from Africa. The ports of Syracuse and Augusta fell to the American 7th Army and British 8th Army. Meanwhile the First Allied Airbone Army took control of vital chokepoints. But Italian highcommand believe this was just a ruse, and that the real battle would take place in Messina and Palermo.
American soldier basking in the spoils of war.
But this was indeed the main Allied offensive into Sicily. American and British forces faced little resistance and they managed to secure their positions and targets. But they didn't move on. They continued on their charade. Mussolini declared that as the Allied forces didn't advance from Syracuse to Messina or Palermo, the real invasion would be immiment. He also wanted to boost the morale of the Italian defenders saying "You're the heirs of the Roman Empire. You're the legions of the New Rome. Then as now the hordes of the Eastern Migration threaten us. But we will hold, we will win over the Germanic and Asiatic hordes. To battle!"*****
Rokossovsky lend his support to the Allies. The objective; Palermo.
But Syracuse was the real staging ground. Operation Husky was the Allied-Soviet plan to take on Sicily. The Front under Vasilevksy would threaten with an invasion in northern Italy, and the Leningrad Front into Messina. But the real strike force would be composed of the US 7th Army and British 8th Army and the Front under Rokossovsky from Syracuse. The plan was simple, yet effective. In the confusion of the Allied-Soviet landing the invading armies would thrust directly to Palermo in a spearhead manuever. Hopefully the mechanized and armored divisions would with great speed reach Palermo before the Italian high command realied what happened. Meanwhile the infantry divisions would secure the flanks and supply lines preventing an Italian counterattack and enveloping the troops around Messina - the bulk of the Italian army.
The Italians are blindsided by this mass armored assault.
The strategy worked. In a matter of days the hills of central Sicily and the only airport was taken. The allied forces continued on their advance to Palermo facing little resistance and ready to bypass the 20 Italian Infantry Divisions and 2 Armored Divisions around Messina entirely.
Invading forces clear out the hills of Sicily.
Despite the majority of the forces in Sicily was around Messina, the invading forces had to clear out the many caves, hills and bunkers in the hilly areas of central Sicily. Handgrenades and flamethrowers was a must in that enviorment. The experiences here from Allied and Soviet troops alike would prove to be handy in clearing out similar enviorments in the Pacific. A Soviet flamethrower recalled "the pillboxes held down entire formations of troops. Every man was precious as we didn't have anyone to replace us, and failure resulted in execution. As such we developed crude ways to take out our enemies. We would send in smoke by mortarts, howitzers or hand to the bunkers. These would later be followed up, as they suffocated our enemies, by handgrenades or high explosive shots from either rockets launchers, howiters or mortars. Or in my case, the flamthrower. The flames or explosives reacted with the phosphor in the smoke. I will never forget the screams".
The battle of Palermo begins. The end is nigh!
By the 4th Palermo was reached. The invading forces had blitzed through Sicily and was now mopping up the remaining Italian forces along the south coast of Sicily.
Slowly gaining ground in Palermo, binding up the divisions in Messina in a suicidal attack.
But as the battle of Palermo dragged on, Allied High Command realized that the Italian forces in Messina posed a great threat to the relative weak flank of the spearhead toward Palermo. It was feared the armored divisions would break out and encircle the invasion forces. Few units was then spared to make minor attacks on Messina and prevent an Italian breakout. The Soviets suffered massive casualties as they assaulted the positions in Messina, but they managed, for now, to keep the Italian forces confined to Messina.
A knocked out tank.
The battle of Palermo intensified. American and Soviet soldiers alike entered the city itself and found themself in grueling close quarter combat. The tanks, assault guns and tank destroyers proved to not be so effective in the streets of Palermo, and the infantrists was now on their own in their assault on the last Italian stronghold.
The plan worked. Our eastern flank is secure, at the cost of terrible casualties.
On the 7th the Italian troops was still holding out from the Allied assault. Despite the tall casualties the allies succeeded in their plan. The Italian forces couldn't turn the tide of the battle. Rokossovsky wrote in his memoars "it was nerve wrecking. One single offensive from Messina and our entire invasion force might have been thrown back into the sea".
Palermo is taken. Messina remain the last stronghold of Italy. Will it fall?
But on the evening of the 7th Palermo was taken after three days of battle. It took the Spearhead manuver from Syracuse around eighth days to reach and take Palermo. Soviet, British and American armored units had shown the world that they now mastered modern manuever warfare. With Palermo taken the last pockets of Italian divisions in western Sicily would be mopped up, before another terrible battle for Messina would take place. After all the majority of Italian forces was here and was finally able to break out to drive toward Palermo.
We didn't need to take it, they gave up!
But they never reached Palermo. Italy was a ruined nation and the armies stood down, and as Palermo was taken by the allies the population rose up against Mussolini and the Republic of Italy was announced under American occupation. The war in Europe had come to an end.
Soviet soldiers and civilians celebrate Victory Day.
The news of the allied victory in Sicily reached the world and was celebrated in all nations around the globe (except for Japan). In Times Square, Trafalgar Square, the Red Square and many other places people rushed to the streets to celebrate Victory in Europe Day; the 8th of September. After four brutal years Europe was again at peace, at a terrible cost. Millions had died, and entire nations was in a ruined state. Just in the last offensive into Italy hundreds of thousands lost their lives. But peace was in Europe, at last.
One major threat remain..
The Battle for Europe had come to an end, but the Battle of the Pacific had just begun. And the Soviet curse was still up and running. For every victory they had in Europe they would have an equal defeat in the Far East. Victory was achieved in Europe, but it would be overshadowed of what was to come in the Far East...
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*Poland surprised me by actually giving up Eastern Poland. We've been on a lucky streak by Finland, Baltic nations and now Poland giving into our demands. This also gave us 13k in manpower reserves, which of course was quickly exhausted.
**A shitty way of trying to explain how it gives me 140 PP which is needed for me changing conscription laws to "Service by Requirement".
***In game the Allies do little, but for the sake of the narrative US and Commonwealth forces along with the Red Army contribute to the conquest of Italy. Also I dunno if US and UK do port strikes, but in the narrative they do, such as the IRL strike on Taranto, only this time taking out wht remain of the Italian fleet.
****The Italians came there right after I did. Most of the divisions survived the battle, but an entire armored division disappeared, so I take it as they were caught on the beach and couldn't survive the assault. It is also more likely that soldiers fight to the bitter end if there is no possible routes of retreats.
*****Rationalizing why the Italian army focus on Messina and Palermo and not the ingame Greek invasion. It is also somewhat based upon Germany's response to the invasion in Normandy (but it is from Calais they will come!) and here the invasion of Sicily is mostly like the IRL one narrative wise with extensive US and Commonwealth forces. I also hoped to make a naval invasion, but due to lacking in that field I could only make 10 divisions at a time to Italy in 70 days each. Luckily Greece of all nations opened up a tiny front.
So the war in Europe is finally over! I decided to just make the last chapter about Italy. The next will focus on the Far East in the same period and to the end of September. Also sorry for the belated update, I can't promise anything but next one should come on Wednesday.
Trotsky on a fishing trip in Italy.
The war was over in most of Europe, only parts of a greatly weakened Italy was left. Corpses filled the plains of Europe with even fighter pilots reporting a foul stench. Following the conquest of northern Italy Trotsky moved with the Soviet high command to Venice to make this famous city their seat of power. When they were not planning the war or a post war Europe Trotsky was reported to take several fishing trips in the Adriatic sea. Soviet propaganda used this, among other pictures, to picture the leader of the USSR as a down to earth man and Allied propaganda used it to picture him as "Good ol' uncle Leo". But where Trotsky and his comrades enjoyed the rich culture of Italy, the rest of the nation suffered.
The war will be over by Christmas.
By the 6th of July most of Italy was firmly under allied control. But as they moved south from the ruined city of Naples they met stiff resistance in the mountains and hills of southern Italy. Taranto and the boot of Italy was the target of the advancing allied forces. The Italians knew that if they lost the vital sea port of Taranto they would forever lose control of southern Italy and Sicily would be open for the taking. All that was between the invasion forces and Taranto was a few mountain ranges and hills. The defending Italian forces dug into their positions knowing that allied armored and air supremacy could not be utilized to the fullest here. Soviet, British and American forces headed into the hills and fought a fanatic enemy. But they had fire supremacy and thousands of artillery shells and Trotsky Orgels was fired into the hills and mountains hoping to "bomb them into submission". Once the mountains were taken, allied troops would pour into the flat lands of southern Italy.
Once more into the fray!
But it was not only in Italy conflict was brewing. In London and Washington D.C the many phones and telegrams was constantly ringing. On the 7th of July the Soviet ambassador in Warsaw had issued an ultimatum, not unlike the one Hitler did in '38: "Cede Western Ukraine and Western Belarus to the Ukranian and Belorussian SSRs or face war". The Polish government was given 48 hours to give their answer, meanwhile the Soviet embassady in Warsaw and other Allied nations was evacuated. Soviet forces in Germany and the Balkans was put on high alert and ordered to prepare for an invasion of not only Poland, but allied controlled Germany and Italy. The Allied governments was caught completely off guard, and before they managed to advise Poland on the situation the Polish government reported to Washington and London that they would not be bullied into submission by the USSR. "Yesterday it was Danzig and Hitler, today it is Eastern Poland and Trotsky. But we shall overcome them just as we overcame Germany". The Polish Army was again mobilized and was prepared to hold off the Red Army until the Allies could evacuate them.
We welcome our Ukranian and Belorussian comrades back - and their manpower.
But the British government had not given up their policy of appeasment under Lord Halifax and history repeated itself. Moreover France declared they would join the side of the USSR in an eventual conflict with Poland and tore apart their uniliteral guarantee of indepence to Poland. US and UK chipped in to prevent and open conflict with the Internationale and advised the Polish government to cede eastern Poland. The Polish government, however, didn't listen. They still stood firmly on their belief that war was the only solution. However on the 8th the Soviets created by the NKVD and Red Army in eastern Poland rose up against the Polish government and took control of the areas from Poland declaring themself as "The People's Republics of western Ukraine and Belarus". The Polish government responded by declaring martial law and was prepared to send in the troops to eastern Poland to restore order, but NKVD military units had meanwhile moved into the area and the Red Army was amassing along their western border. War seemed inevitable. On the 9th the communist and socialist unions and parties that had been funded by the USSR was frustrated and feared an open conflict with the USSR and declared a general strike, hoping to cripple the Polish economy and state to prevent war. On the 11th hour Churchill intervened and managed to persuade the Polish government to give up eastern Poland for the sake of peace in Europe (threatening to end the alliance with Poland if they chose to not cede eastern Poland) and made vague promises of Poland getting lands in eastern Germany. Churchill then reportedly said “Poor Neville Chamberlain and Lord Halifax believed they could trust Hitler. They were wrong, but I don’t think I’m wrong about Trotsky", it remained to be seen if he could be trusted.*
Soon the people of Central Europe will know the superior rule of socialism.
Before Soviet-Polish debacle the majority of the Red Army in Europe had been pulled away from Italy and was given the duty to occupy the Balkans and their German-Austrian-Czecho sectors. While the Allied forces had focused on invading Italy a power vaccum was created in Germany etc. Most famous was the Werewolf Guerillas in Germany who refused to acknowledge defeat and set up shadow governments of their own. Like the Freikorps before the rise of the Third Reich disgruntled veterans and civilians joined these militias and wanted to liberate Germany. But allied forces soon came to their assigned occupation zones and ruthlessly put down the rebellions in anti-partisan operations. The Soviet forces who was sent to occupy central Europe was also ordered to use their time for manuevers and excercises (along with the anti-partisan operations) to prepare for the war in the Far East. The Red Army and NKVD also used their time to set up the foundations of communist puppet regimes.
Only Trotsky and his comrades can decide what is real art.
Following the annexation of eastern Polan the official Soviet art style of Socialist Realism was increased. It focused on the sacrifice of the Soviet soldier and worker, it romanticised the working class to inspire love to the workers and pictured capitalism as an imperialist tool to oppress the workers of the world. Trotsky and Lenin recieved increased worship in this art style. It was hoped that after 70 days of extensive funding of Socialist Realist projects the people would be more unified and fall into the doctrine of Communism - especially in occupied Europe. It was hoped that this would in turn give the Soviet governments greater capability to change conscription laws and get hundreds of thousands of new recuits to the Red Army.**
Tha Italian forces are split in half.
But border conflicts in Poland and Socialist Realism aside there was still a war that was being fought in Italy. By late evening of the 13th Soviet and Allied forces broke through on the southernmost mountain ranges and gained control of the area. For days the Italian defenders in the mountains had been barraged by allie and Soviet artillery and rockets without end, along with bombers dropping their loads from the skies. This softened up the Italian defenses to such an extent that the allied forces was now in the process of taking all of the mountain ranges. A lone Italian infantry division who had been pushed to the toe of Italy was ordered to counterattack, and seemed they would retake the mountains opening up for the Italian defenders near Taranto to evacuate to Sicily. But Soviet reinforcements was underway and it was unlikely they could retake the mountain.
The Italians are proving to be somewhat more resilient than anticipated.
By the 19th the counterattack failed and Italian forces had been pushed away from the mountains to the plains near Taranto except for some Venezuelan volunteer forces holding the mountain - to their death. The defending Italians was resoundly defeated and was now ordered to create a defensive perimeter around Taranto.
The road to Taranto is open.
Two days later the last mountain range outsie of Taranto was taken, and allied forces continued on their advance to Taranto hoping to take the defenders before they could entrench themself and southward to Sicily to prevent Italian reinforcements on their southern flank.
The battle of Taranto begins.
By the 23rd the Italian forces who had made a perimeter around Taranto was decisively beaten back to Taranto proper. Several Soviet and allied divisions was now taking up their positions around Taranto in the west, northwest and southwest barraging to city with artillery and from the air. The RAF and the airforces of US meanwhile launched a surprise attack from carieer task groups on the ports of Taranto, wiping out the remaining Italian naval fleets and merchant fleet. Italy had now lost control of their navy and was unable to ship out their troops trapped in Taranto, meanwhile Soviet forces was moving into the city, albeit at high casualties.***
The race to the toe of Italy is on.
While the Baltic and Leningrad Fronts focused on taking Taranto, the Front under Rokossovsky was given an another order. They were to rush toward the toe of Italy and dig in. Reports had it that a sizeble Italian force was preparing to leave Sicily and launch an offensive into the southern flank of the invasion force. It was doubtful this force could throw the allies out of Italy, but it would prolong the war and bring about unecessary losses. Rokossovsky was then ordered to thrust ahead in full speed and hold the tip of southern Italy. Moreover if a sizeble force was threatining the strait of Sicily, the Italians had to send the majority of their forces there to not risk an invasion on Sicily.
We won the race and the following battle.
Nearing midnight during on the 27th the two first Soviet infanty divisions reached their destination. Soon the first Italian forces entered in boats and landingcrafts. As the Soviet forces had just arrived mere hours, if not minutes, before the Italians assaulted the beachead they couldn't make for proper defensive measures. Still the Italians suffered heavy casualties. When they landed they were barraged by thousands of artillery shells, meanwhile Soviet dive bombers and fighter bombers strafed the Italian forces on the beach, moving over the strait and in Sicily. Soon the Royal Navy and US Navy moved in with the Swedish Navy and fired upon the Italian forces. This move effectively blocked off the strait, trapping large parts of infantry divisions on the beachead and the entire armored division. Days later the Soviet Union counterattacked in full force and the Italians was driven back to the sea. A Soviet tank commander described the situation as "we rolled on with our tanks in full assault. The Italians had barely managed to create a beachead and we could see the smokes and fires that littered the horizon. We stopped at nothing. Following a massive artillery barrage we rolled over our enemies - literally. But they still refused to give up. Either they were fanatic or they were scared, but they ran into the burning sea, even tanks backtracked ablaze into the sea. Those who did not die due to the flames or smoke was dragged down to the bottom of the sea by their sheer weight. Those who didn't drown fell to our machine guns. The sea and beach remained red for weeks after this".****
Italy finally surrenders Taranto and soon the heel of Italy.
In the early morning (or late hours of the night) of 29th of July allied forces was gaining the upperhand in the battle of Taranto. After six bloody days of combat inside the city itself the allied forces had taken the crucial areas in the city and was starting to control the area. However it would take nearly three more days before the entire city was under allied control. Now the Italians had been pushed out of the city itself, but was still defending one of the many ports in the region. Still it was expected that the Italians and Venezuelans would surrender in a matter of days, if not hours.
Going over the strait is suicidal. We need to make a naval invasion of our own.
Allied and Soviet commanders went over the drawing table on the 2nd of August and concluded that while they had numerical superiority a direct attack across the strait and into Messina would be too costly. Instead a superior Soviet and American force was to be held across the strait to confuse the Italians. Messina would be bombed day and night, the city proper and the defensive entrenchments. This kept the Italians at their toe and away from the real invasion locations. The Front under Vasilevsky was also ordered to set up an invasion force from Naples. 10 divisions would strike to the port just west of Palermo in a 70 days time, in the net 70 days another 10 divisions would strike just west of Messina. This would trap the forces of Messina in a pocket and prevent them from moving west to Palermo.
Even better, let the Allies make a naval invasion for us.
But the invasion force of Vasilevsky was just another ruse. The invasion plans for the forces of Vaslevsky was leaked to the Italians. Instead American and Commonwealth forces invaded southern most Italy from Africa. The ports of Syracuse and Augusta fell to the American 7th Army and British 8th Army. Meanwhile the First Allied Airbone Army took control of vital chokepoints. But Italian highcommand believe this was just a ruse, and that the real battle would take place in Messina and Palermo.
American soldier basking in the spoils of war.
But this was indeed the main Allied offensive into Sicily. American and British forces faced little resistance and they managed to secure their positions and targets. But they didn't move on. They continued on their charade. Mussolini declared that as the Allied forces didn't advance from Syracuse to Messina or Palermo, the real invasion would be immiment. He also wanted to boost the morale of the Italian defenders saying "You're the heirs of the Roman Empire. You're the legions of the New Rome. Then as now the hordes of the Eastern Migration threaten us. But we will hold, we will win over the Germanic and Asiatic hordes. To battle!"*****
Rokossovsky lend his support to the Allies. The objective; Palermo.
But Syracuse was the real staging ground. Operation Husky was the Allied-Soviet plan to take on Sicily. The Front under Vasilevksy would threaten with an invasion in northern Italy, and the Leningrad Front into Messina. But the real strike force would be composed of the US 7th Army and British 8th Army and the Front under Rokossovsky from Syracuse. The plan was simple, yet effective. In the confusion of the Allied-Soviet landing the invading armies would thrust directly to Palermo in a spearhead manuever. Hopefully the mechanized and armored divisions would with great speed reach Palermo before the Italian high command realied what happened. Meanwhile the infantry divisions would secure the flanks and supply lines preventing an Italian counterattack and enveloping the troops around Messina - the bulk of the Italian army.
The Italians are blindsided by this mass armored assault.
The strategy worked. In a matter of days the hills of central Sicily and the only airport was taken. The allied forces continued on their advance to Palermo facing little resistance and ready to bypass the 20 Italian Infantry Divisions and 2 Armored Divisions around Messina entirely.
Invading forces clear out the hills of Sicily.
Despite the majority of the forces in Sicily was around Messina, the invading forces had to clear out the many caves, hills and bunkers in the hilly areas of central Sicily. Handgrenades and flamethrowers was a must in that enviorment. The experiences here from Allied and Soviet troops alike would prove to be handy in clearing out similar enviorments in the Pacific. A Soviet flamethrower recalled "the pillboxes held down entire formations of troops. Every man was precious as we didn't have anyone to replace us, and failure resulted in execution. As such we developed crude ways to take out our enemies. We would send in smoke by mortarts, howitzers or hand to the bunkers. These would later be followed up, as they suffocated our enemies, by handgrenades or high explosive shots from either rockets launchers, howiters or mortars. Or in my case, the flamthrower. The flames or explosives reacted with the phosphor in the smoke. I will never forget the screams".
The battle of Palermo begins. The end is nigh!
By the 4th Palermo was reached. The invading forces had blitzed through Sicily and was now mopping up the remaining Italian forces along the south coast of Sicily.
Slowly gaining ground in Palermo, binding up the divisions in Messina in a suicidal attack.
But as the battle of Palermo dragged on, Allied High Command realized that the Italian forces in Messina posed a great threat to the relative weak flank of the spearhead toward Palermo. It was feared the armored divisions would break out and encircle the invasion forces. Few units was then spared to make minor attacks on Messina and prevent an Italian breakout. The Soviets suffered massive casualties as they assaulted the positions in Messina, but they managed, for now, to keep the Italian forces confined to Messina.
A knocked out tank.
The battle of Palermo intensified. American and Soviet soldiers alike entered the city itself and found themself in grueling close quarter combat. The tanks, assault guns and tank destroyers proved to not be so effective in the streets of Palermo, and the infantrists was now on their own in their assault on the last Italian stronghold.
The plan worked. Our eastern flank is secure, at the cost of terrible casualties.
On the 7th the Italian troops was still holding out from the Allied assault. Despite the tall casualties the allies succeeded in their plan. The Italian forces couldn't turn the tide of the battle. Rokossovsky wrote in his memoars "it was nerve wrecking. One single offensive from Messina and our entire invasion force might have been thrown back into the sea".
Palermo is taken. Messina remain the last stronghold of Italy. Will it fall?
But on the evening of the 7th Palermo was taken after three days of battle. It took the Spearhead manuver from Syracuse around eighth days to reach and take Palermo. Soviet, British and American armored units had shown the world that they now mastered modern manuever warfare. With Palermo taken the last pockets of Italian divisions in western Sicily would be mopped up, before another terrible battle for Messina would take place. After all the majority of Italian forces was here and was finally able to break out to drive toward Palermo.
We didn't need to take it, they gave up!
But they never reached Palermo. Italy was a ruined nation and the armies stood down, and as Palermo was taken by the allies the population rose up against Mussolini and the Republic of Italy was announced under American occupation. The war in Europe had come to an end.
Soviet soldiers and civilians celebrate Victory Day.
The news of the allied victory in Sicily reached the world and was celebrated in all nations around the globe (except for Japan). In Times Square, Trafalgar Square, the Red Square and many other places people rushed to the streets to celebrate Victory in Europe Day; the 8th of September. After four brutal years Europe was again at peace, at a terrible cost. Millions had died, and entire nations was in a ruined state. Just in the last offensive into Italy hundreds of thousands lost their lives. But peace was in Europe, at last.
One major threat remain..
The Battle for Europe had come to an end, but the Battle of the Pacific had just begun. And the Soviet curse was still up and running. For every victory they had in Europe they would have an equal defeat in the Far East. Victory was achieved in Europe, but it would be overshadowed of what was to come in the Far East...
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*Poland surprised me by actually giving up Eastern Poland. We've been on a lucky streak by Finland, Baltic nations and now Poland giving into our demands. This also gave us 13k in manpower reserves, which of course was quickly exhausted.
**A shitty way of trying to explain how it gives me 140 PP which is needed for me changing conscription laws to "Service by Requirement".
***In game the Allies do little, but for the sake of the narrative US and Commonwealth forces along with the Red Army contribute to the conquest of Italy. Also I dunno if US and UK do port strikes, but in the narrative they do, such as the IRL strike on Taranto, only this time taking out wht remain of the Italian fleet.
****The Italians came there right after I did. Most of the divisions survived the battle, but an entire armored division disappeared, so I take it as they were caught on the beach and couldn't survive the assault. It is also more likely that soldiers fight to the bitter end if there is no possible routes of retreats.
*****Rationalizing why the Italian army focus on Messina and Palermo and not the ingame Greek invasion. It is also somewhat based upon Germany's response to the invasion in Normandy (but it is from Calais they will come!) and here the invasion of Sicily is mostly like the IRL one narrative wise with extensive US and Commonwealth forces. I also hoped to make a naval invasion, but due to lacking in that field I could only make 10 divisions at a time to Italy in 70 days each. Luckily Greece of all nations opened up a tiny front.
So the war in Europe is finally over! I decided to just make the last chapter about Italy. The next will focus on the Far East in the same period and to the end of September. Also sorry for the belated update, I can't promise anything but next one should come on Wednesday.
Chapter 21.
Chapter 21: Victory in the West. Disaster in the East.
Ruins of Vladivostok.
The war entered its second year. In these two years the once proud British Empire had almost broken, yet it will hold firm on its own stoicism. Instead two other empires fell. The German and Italian Empires, two upstart empires risen from the ashes, threatening to conquer all of Europe. Instead they fell apart under the weight of their own ambition. But these two years saw the rise of two new empires. One was that of the Soviet Empire. But the other was the Japanese Empire. In the second year the Japanese advances in the Soviet Far East was reaching a new brutality. The city of Vladivostok was again threatened, and with it Soviet hegemony in the east. The city of Vladivostok turned to ashes in the mighty clash between the two empires. Here the Soviet soldier did not fight to "crush fascism" or take Bessarabia, they fought on their very own soil. One Soviet officer remarked "Suddenly we were no longer the Communists, we were Russian soldiers."
"The warrior doesn't care if he's called a beast or a dog; the main thing is winning".
When the Soviets was victorious in Europe the Japanese realized it was only a matter of time before they would be sandwiched between the might of the Red Army from the west and the Allied forces in the east. In response to this the Japanese military launched new and ruthless campaigns. Despite losing most of their gains in the Pacific their new offensives almost reached Australia, taking control of Indonesia and nearing Singapore. But it was the Red Army who took the brunt of the vicious Japanese assault. The Turkestan Front was reduced to mere four divisions. But worst of all the Far East Front that had counted over 24 divisions was now down to only 20 divisions - despite being reinforced by several divisions and entire Armies many times. Near Vladivostok entire divisions could be raised, but would perish weeks later to the sheer Japanese fury. New recruits had a 75% casualty rate, and now as there was no recruits any longer the seasoned veterans fell like flies. To make matters worse the Far Eastern Front was cut off in three distinct pockets. Only one of them could be supplied by Vladivostok, the northernmost by an airbase, but the southernmost one's situation was doomed. They had no means of supply nor chance of breakthrough.
The Caucasus protect the world revolution from the Afghans, the Far East Front evacuate.
The Transcaucasian Front, seasoned veterans from the Transylvanian mountains, was at haste sent toward Afghanistan to prevent a humiliating defeat by the hands of a largely peasant society. But they were hundreds of miles away and the centuries old fear of Russia to be hit in their soft underbelly might now come true. Further to the east the southernmost pocket fell to the ever stalwart Japanese imperials. The Front was now reduced to mere 16 divisions, many being out of supplies and exhausted. Soviet high command then gave up their stubborn approach of "constant offensives" and gave the green light to Popov, he could evacuate his forces to Hong Kong. Still it was a highly risky operation; the northernmost pocket could not evacuate by sea and the Japanese controlled the seas between the ruler of the East and the Pearl of the Orient. High casualties was expected combined with the humiliating prospect that the mighty Russian Bear could not hold off the invading Japanese.
Will Japan avenge the Italians in Zara?
While the forces in Europe advanced toward Taranto taking victory after victory the Asian forces saw nothing but defeat. Those who believed they would find themself in friendly waters and get some well earned rest soon got their dreams shattered. The Japanese Navy gave the retreating Soviet forces their own farewell gift. A commander of one of the escorting destroyers wrote "we picked up movements of several submarines. Two of our destroyers parted to eliminate the threat. But they were lured away. All out of sudden huge explosions rang through the air and the sky was filled with dense smoke. Several transport ships worth of an entire division of men and equipment was sunk by Japanese torpedos. We could only sail by and watch as thousands of men littered the seas covered in thick oil. Some wanted to rescue them, but we couldn't. Those who chased away the bait, we lost communications with them. They had been sunk. We couldn't stay, we couldn't revenge our fallen brothers or help them from the seas else the entire Japanese Armada would take us out and the other division we were escorting. It was horrible".
The Afghans strike.
Despite the Trancaucasian Front coming to the front in Afghanistan, their long journey from Hungary and Romania had proven to be a logistical nightmare. When they arrived by the front most of their supplies didn't reach in time and the Soviet soldiers often had to fight without their arms or spare clothes in the harsh mountain enviorment. But the Transcaucasian soldiers was also exhausted from months of brutal war against the Axis in the west and after weeks of travel to the east. The Afghan warriors capitalised on this and their unique take on war and pushed Soviet and British forces back alike, pushing into not only the USSR, but also the Raj.
They fly up, our ships go down.
As the forces in Afghanistan fell to Afghan swords and bullets, the forces evacuating Vladivostok faced the horrors of modern naval warfare. Japanese submarines and fast moving cruisers harassed the convoys, but the infamous aircraft carriers entered - the Kings of the Pacific. Hundreds of Japanese bombers, fighters and torpedo planes sortied out to find Soviet transports to either strafe them with machine guns, drop bombs on them or torpedos finding their targets up to two kilometers away. Thousands of Soviet soldiers died as they were evacuated, all the while the Japanese Army was closing in on the troops surrounding Vladivostok and the battle for the city intensified. Would the Soviet Far East Front suffer the same faith as the Italian Balkan Expeditionary Forces?
Hold the line!
By August all of the Italian Peninsula had been secured by Allied forces. But the Soviet curse was still at play. The Turkestan Front was now reduced to three exhausted divisions who were supposed to cover a line of hundreds of miles against a vastly superior enemy. The Red Army simply couldn't keep up with the playrules the Imperial Army had created here in central Asia. A Japanese general told his troops "onward, today we honor our forefathers and end the Russian empire once and for all". If Japan and Afghanistan broke the lines they would threaten major Soviet oilfields in Kazakhstan along with rubber sources and the newly created industry centers around the Urals. It would be a disaster for the Soviet war effort.
The defenders of the Russian Far East.
But there was still a few forces remaining around Vladivostok. The Japanese upped their game and launched an offensive that was meant to be "final and decisive". But the Soviets held out - barely. A Soviet soldier noted "I thought we were ruthless. I thought we overwhelmed our enemies. But we're nothing compared to the Japanese soldier. They come at us with nothing but swords and bayonets in wave after wave. We mow them down, but we'll soon be out of ammunition. And they keep coming, and coming and coming. If we stay we die, yet if we flee we die at the seas. Worse, we'll be cravens".
Head to the port up north and we might have a chance.
In the northernmost pocket the Japanese was unable to break the defenders. Instead they waited for the Soviet forces to fall out of supplies and surrender. Thousands had alreay surrendered and it was expected in a few weeks the remaning five divisions would give up. But Popov took advantage of the situation. The five divisions was ordered to make a daring forced march all the way to the port north of them. If they stayed they would die, if they marched to the north they might be cut off, but at least they had a chance. However this plan left the only remaining airport near Vladivostok exposed. The forces in Vladivostok would lose their crucial air support if the base was lost, and the Japanese could send in the bombers..
The last Russian soldiers in the Far East.
But Japan cut off the Soviet troops. Just a few kilometers away they were encircled by Japanese cavarly units who was later supported by infantry units who sent in horrendous artillery barrages, followed up by suicidal infantry charges. But it worked. Of the thousands who did not fall or became wounded thousands more surrendered to the Japanese frightened. Frightened for not only how the Japanese would treat them, but how their own government and people would treat "traitors". After 2 years of war and in unfavorable conditions these five divisions followed in the steps of countless others before them. The odds were finally against them. Instead of managing to flee they were caught, and they lost. The Far East Front was now down to eight divisions.*
The heroes of Vladivostok.
Meanwhile by mid August all but one division had evacuated Vladivostok. One division remained behind, forever buried in the ruins of the eastern port. The last Soviet units was loading aboard the numerous transports who was hammered from air, sea and land. The division commander then broke ranks and refused to leave. Instead he ordered what remained of his division along with stranded sailors and airmen to assault the Japanese posititions in the city. The fighting was brutal. And it was doomed. The Soviet soldiers went on a full blown counterattack and lost, thousands perished and thousands more was wounded. But this counterattack stalled the Japanese attackers and as the Red Banner was hoised down from Vladivostok the last Soviet transport left port. They were safe.. for now.
The British saved us, Britannia rules the waves! For now.
It was if the sacrifice by the men in Vladivostok was for nought. A large Japanese naval contigent arrived backed up by several squadrons of torpedo bombers. The Soviet transports had no destroyers to escort them this time around. But as the Japanese cruisers closed in severals British cruisers, battleships and battlecruisers opened up their cannons and attacked head on the Japanese fleet. Despite losing one battleships and a heavy cruiser the Japanese attacking squadron was repulsed. The Royal Navy saved countless of lives, at the loss of numerous British sailors. The main fleet of the British Navy in the region soon joined up with them and escorted the remaining Soviet transports on their long trek to safety.
Hong Kong is better than Siberia anyway.
Three days later the former defenders of Vladivostok arrived at firm soil again. Albeit at a terrible loss. The Far East Military District had suffered around half a million losses. Only seven massively understrength divisions managed to get to Hong Kong safely. But Vladivostok "the ruler of the East" was lost.
Leningrad and the Baltics are a far place from here..
The Baltic Front and Leningrad arrived to Afghanistan and Central Asia respectively to face off the Afghan and Japanese offensive. This resulted in the front being reinforced with some 48 veteran divisions from northern and southern Germany. Despite their long journey to the east the generals of Meretskov and Vlasov stopped the until now unstoppable Asian offensive. Hope had come to Asia. The morale was especially bolstered by Vlasov one of the "heroes of the Political Revolution".
The majority of Soviet forces are chilling in Europe.
The Leningrad and Baltic Fronts was sent from Europe. Most of the European forces was still basking in the glory of their victory over Germany and Italy and had now largely pacified the German and Balkan countries. They would excercise, rest and recuperate and lick their wounds. For now they would enjoy peace, but they knew their motherland would soon call on them to make further sacrifices.
The Far East is truly lost this time around.
Despite the new hope in the form of reinforcement and the impending storm from Europe, the Soviet Far East was lost. A huge and vital part of the motherland and a potential springboard to an invasion of Japan was gone. This was a huge blow to Soviet prestige and morale, and they now had to fight their way through their lost lands in Siberia and into China to invade Japan, rather than invade straight from Sakhalin and Vladivostok.
They served their purpose..
The Turkestan Front suffered major casualties. Ever since the fall of Sinkiang and Mongolia they had been in a state of constant disorganized retreats. The Front was now in reality no longer a Front (Army Group) consisting of only two understrength divisions. Still the arrival of the Leningrad Front meant that the battered Turkestan Front could finally get some rest - before they would once more go into the fray.
New toys for the new war!
New variants of the KV-1, T-34 and LuGG-3 was introduced. For the KV-1 it was mainly an improved engine and thicker armor. For the T-34, it had armor improvement along with improved transmission and submission. Meanwhile the LuGG-3 was improved to cover greater distances as the current Soviet fighters couldn't cover the vast steppes of Siberia and Central Asia. It's armament and engines was also improved to compete with the superior Japanese fighters.
Closed cities sound good.
In September of 1942 the Soviet Union was starting to construct closed cities. These could be cities of military importance such as Sevastropol of research cities. This was to prevent foreign spies, let them be Japanese or from the Allies, to obtain sensitive information from the USSR. It could also have the potential of creating major cities dedicated to science.
Now we can sacrifice 8 more million men!
By the 17th of September the conscription laws of the USSR was also signed. Many who had prior been protected due to being in vital industries was now no longer extempted from service, the age of service was also lowered to 17 years of age and a new recruitment propaganda offensive was launched aiming to get so many as possible into the armed forces. The effects would later prove itself: 8.65 million Soviet men was ready to fill the Soviet ranks. An unnamed Soviet general was reported to say "it's sad, now another 6 million young men and women will die for the motherland".
Long Live the Soviet Airforce!
Most of the Tactical and Strategic Bomber fleets had now arrived to Central Asia ready to provide close air support and strategic bombing. However the number of airbases greatly limited them as the Strategic Bombers had to operate from the Caucasus and the Tactical Bombers from various Siberian airbases. It became evident that the Soviet military had not prepared for a war in Siberia and central Asia. But the arrival of the Night Witches and other legendary Soviet pilots and squadrons greatly helped the Soviet armies in Asia and their morale.
The time for revenge has come!
While the Far East Front had suffered a humiliating and decisive defeat, faith had it that they could be of better use in Hong Kong. Southern China was sparseley defended and Popov took the chance to redeem himself. The plans for an offensive was set into motion. He spoke to his troops: "Redeem yourself. But most of all avenge your fallen comrades. For the Motherland!" This offensive, later called "Red Fury" could prove to be a major victory for the Soviets, or pulling out Japanese troops in the north to the south helping out the Central Asian Theater. Or it could end in another disaster.
Winter is coming..
September turned to October and following the arrival of the Leningrad and Baltic Fronts the front in central Asia had stabilised. Gone were the days of constant Soviet disorganised retreats, or as the generals named it "elastic defense", and both sides dug into their trenches as the first snow fell on the tall mountains of Asia. Prime conditions for the seasoned Soviet soldiers - yet horrible. There was no longer any illusion that the war would end by Christmas. The question was now if the war would end at all.
-----
*The four divisions reached the northern port which you can see in a later screenshot, but they then got attacked by the Japanese and was defeated..
Ruins of Vladivostok.
The war entered its second year. In these two years the once proud British Empire had almost broken, yet it will hold firm on its own stoicism. Instead two other empires fell. The German and Italian Empires, two upstart empires risen from the ashes, threatening to conquer all of Europe. Instead they fell apart under the weight of their own ambition. But these two years saw the rise of two new empires. One was that of the Soviet Empire. But the other was the Japanese Empire. In the second year the Japanese advances in the Soviet Far East was reaching a new brutality. The city of Vladivostok was again threatened, and with it Soviet hegemony in the east. The city of Vladivostok turned to ashes in the mighty clash between the two empires. Here the Soviet soldier did not fight to "crush fascism" or take Bessarabia, they fought on their very own soil. One Soviet officer remarked "Suddenly we were no longer the Communists, we were Russian soldiers."
"The warrior doesn't care if he's called a beast or a dog; the main thing is winning".
When the Soviets was victorious in Europe the Japanese realized it was only a matter of time before they would be sandwiched between the might of the Red Army from the west and the Allied forces in the east. In response to this the Japanese military launched new and ruthless campaigns. Despite losing most of their gains in the Pacific their new offensives almost reached Australia, taking control of Indonesia and nearing Singapore. But it was the Red Army who took the brunt of the vicious Japanese assault. The Turkestan Front was reduced to mere four divisions. But worst of all the Far East Front that had counted over 24 divisions was now down to only 20 divisions - despite being reinforced by several divisions and entire Armies many times. Near Vladivostok entire divisions could be raised, but would perish weeks later to the sheer Japanese fury. New recruits had a 75% casualty rate, and now as there was no recruits any longer the seasoned veterans fell like flies. To make matters worse the Far Eastern Front was cut off in three distinct pockets. Only one of them could be supplied by Vladivostok, the northernmost by an airbase, but the southernmost one's situation was doomed. They had no means of supply nor chance of breakthrough.
The Caucasus protect the world revolution from the Afghans, the Far East Front evacuate.
The Transcaucasian Front, seasoned veterans from the Transylvanian mountains, was at haste sent toward Afghanistan to prevent a humiliating defeat by the hands of a largely peasant society. But they were hundreds of miles away and the centuries old fear of Russia to be hit in their soft underbelly might now come true. Further to the east the southernmost pocket fell to the ever stalwart Japanese imperials. The Front was now reduced to mere 16 divisions, many being out of supplies and exhausted. Soviet high command then gave up their stubborn approach of "constant offensives" and gave the green light to Popov, he could evacuate his forces to Hong Kong. Still it was a highly risky operation; the northernmost pocket could not evacuate by sea and the Japanese controlled the seas between the ruler of the East and the Pearl of the Orient. High casualties was expected combined with the humiliating prospect that the mighty Russian Bear could not hold off the invading Japanese.
Will Japan avenge the Italians in Zara?
While the forces in Europe advanced toward Taranto taking victory after victory the Asian forces saw nothing but defeat. Those who believed they would find themself in friendly waters and get some well earned rest soon got their dreams shattered. The Japanese Navy gave the retreating Soviet forces their own farewell gift. A commander of one of the escorting destroyers wrote "we picked up movements of several submarines. Two of our destroyers parted to eliminate the threat. But they were lured away. All out of sudden huge explosions rang through the air and the sky was filled with dense smoke. Several transport ships worth of an entire division of men and equipment was sunk by Japanese torpedos. We could only sail by and watch as thousands of men littered the seas covered in thick oil. Some wanted to rescue them, but we couldn't. Those who chased away the bait, we lost communications with them. They had been sunk. We couldn't stay, we couldn't revenge our fallen brothers or help them from the seas else the entire Japanese Armada would take us out and the other division we were escorting. It was horrible".
The Afghans strike.
Despite the Trancaucasian Front coming to the front in Afghanistan, their long journey from Hungary and Romania had proven to be a logistical nightmare. When they arrived by the front most of their supplies didn't reach in time and the Soviet soldiers often had to fight without their arms or spare clothes in the harsh mountain enviorment. But the Transcaucasian soldiers was also exhausted from months of brutal war against the Axis in the west and after weeks of travel to the east. The Afghan warriors capitalised on this and their unique take on war and pushed Soviet and British forces back alike, pushing into not only the USSR, but also the Raj.
They fly up, our ships go down.
As the forces in Afghanistan fell to Afghan swords and bullets, the forces evacuating Vladivostok faced the horrors of modern naval warfare. Japanese submarines and fast moving cruisers harassed the convoys, but the infamous aircraft carriers entered - the Kings of the Pacific. Hundreds of Japanese bombers, fighters and torpedo planes sortied out to find Soviet transports to either strafe them with machine guns, drop bombs on them or torpedos finding their targets up to two kilometers away. Thousands of Soviet soldiers died as they were evacuated, all the while the Japanese Army was closing in on the troops surrounding Vladivostok and the battle for the city intensified. Would the Soviet Far East Front suffer the same faith as the Italian Balkan Expeditionary Forces?
Hold the line!
By August all of the Italian Peninsula had been secured by Allied forces. But the Soviet curse was still at play. The Turkestan Front was now reduced to three exhausted divisions who were supposed to cover a line of hundreds of miles against a vastly superior enemy. The Red Army simply couldn't keep up with the playrules the Imperial Army had created here in central Asia. A Japanese general told his troops "onward, today we honor our forefathers and end the Russian empire once and for all". If Japan and Afghanistan broke the lines they would threaten major Soviet oilfields in Kazakhstan along with rubber sources and the newly created industry centers around the Urals. It would be a disaster for the Soviet war effort.
The defenders of the Russian Far East.
But there was still a few forces remaining around Vladivostok. The Japanese upped their game and launched an offensive that was meant to be "final and decisive". But the Soviets held out - barely. A Soviet soldier noted "I thought we were ruthless. I thought we overwhelmed our enemies. But we're nothing compared to the Japanese soldier. They come at us with nothing but swords and bayonets in wave after wave. We mow them down, but we'll soon be out of ammunition. And they keep coming, and coming and coming. If we stay we die, yet if we flee we die at the seas. Worse, we'll be cravens".
Head to the port up north and we might have a chance.
In the northernmost pocket the Japanese was unable to break the defenders. Instead they waited for the Soviet forces to fall out of supplies and surrender. Thousands had alreay surrendered and it was expected in a few weeks the remaning five divisions would give up. But Popov took advantage of the situation. The five divisions was ordered to make a daring forced march all the way to the port north of them. If they stayed they would die, if they marched to the north they might be cut off, but at least they had a chance. However this plan left the only remaining airport near Vladivostok exposed. The forces in Vladivostok would lose their crucial air support if the base was lost, and the Japanese could send in the bombers..
The last Russian soldiers in the Far East.
But Japan cut off the Soviet troops. Just a few kilometers away they were encircled by Japanese cavarly units who was later supported by infantry units who sent in horrendous artillery barrages, followed up by suicidal infantry charges. But it worked. Of the thousands who did not fall or became wounded thousands more surrendered to the Japanese frightened. Frightened for not only how the Japanese would treat them, but how their own government and people would treat "traitors". After 2 years of war and in unfavorable conditions these five divisions followed in the steps of countless others before them. The odds were finally against them. Instead of managing to flee they were caught, and they lost. The Far East Front was now down to eight divisions.*
The heroes of Vladivostok.
Meanwhile by mid August all but one division had evacuated Vladivostok. One division remained behind, forever buried in the ruins of the eastern port. The last Soviet units was loading aboard the numerous transports who was hammered from air, sea and land. The division commander then broke ranks and refused to leave. Instead he ordered what remained of his division along with stranded sailors and airmen to assault the Japanese posititions in the city. The fighting was brutal. And it was doomed. The Soviet soldiers went on a full blown counterattack and lost, thousands perished and thousands more was wounded. But this counterattack stalled the Japanese attackers and as the Red Banner was hoised down from Vladivostok the last Soviet transport left port. They were safe.. for now.
The British saved us, Britannia rules the waves! For now.
It was if the sacrifice by the men in Vladivostok was for nought. A large Japanese naval contigent arrived backed up by several squadrons of torpedo bombers. The Soviet transports had no destroyers to escort them this time around. But as the Japanese cruisers closed in severals British cruisers, battleships and battlecruisers opened up their cannons and attacked head on the Japanese fleet. Despite losing one battleships and a heavy cruiser the Japanese attacking squadron was repulsed. The Royal Navy saved countless of lives, at the loss of numerous British sailors. The main fleet of the British Navy in the region soon joined up with them and escorted the remaining Soviet transports on their long trek to safety.
Hong Kong is better than Siberia anyway.
Three days later the former defenders of Vladivostok arrived at firm soil again. Albeit at a terrible loss. The Far East Military District had suffered around half a million losses. Only seven massively understrength divisions managed to get to Hong Kong safely. But Vladivostok "the ruler of the East" was lost.
Leningrad and the Baltics are a far place from here..
The Baltic Front and Leningrad arrived to Afghanistan and Central Asia respectively to face off the Afghan and Japanese offensive. This resulted in the front being reinforced with some 48 veteran divisions from northern and southern Germany. Despite their long journey to the east the generals of Meretskov and Vlasov stopped the until now unstoppable Asian offensive. Hope had come to Asia. The morale was especially bolstered by Vlasov one of the "heroes of the Political Revolution".
The majority of Soviet forces are chilling in Europe.
The Leningrad and Baltic Fronts was sent from Europe. Most of the European forces was still basking in the glory of their victory over Germany and Italy and had now largely pacified the German and Balkan countries. They would excercise, rest and recuperate and lick their wounds. For now they would enjoy peace, but they knew their motherland would soon call on them to make further sacrifices.
The Far East is truly lost this time around.
Despite the new hope in the form of reinforcement and the impending storm from Europe, the Soviet Far East was lost. A huge and vital part of the motherland and a potential springboard to an invasion of Japan was gone. This was a huge blow to Soviet prestige and morale, and they now had to fight their way through their lost lands in Siberia and into China to invade Japan, rather than invade straight from Sakhalin and Vladivostok.
They served their purpose..
The Turkestan Front suffered major casualties. Ever since the fall of Sinkiang and Mongolia they had been in a state of constant disorganized retreats. The Front was now in reality no longer a Front (Army Group) consisting of only two understrength divisions. Still the arrival of the Leningrad Front meant that the battered Turkestan Front could finally get some rest - before they would once more go into the fray.
New toys for the new war!
New variants of the KV-1, T-34 and LuGG-3 was introduced. For the KV-1 it was mainly an improved engine and thicker armor. For the T-34, it had armor improvement along with improved transmission and submission. Meanwhile the LuGG-3 was improved to cover greater distances as the current Soviet fighters couldn't cover the vast steppes of Siberia and Central Asia. It's armament and engines was also improved to compete with the superior Japanese fighters.
Closed cities sound good.
In September of 1942 the Soviet Union was starting to construct closed cities. These could be cities of military importance such as Sevastropol of research cities. This was to prevent foreign spies, let them be Japanese or from the Allies, to obtain sensitive information from the USSR. It could also have the potential of creating major cities dedicated to science.
Now we can sacrifice 8 more million men!
By the 17th of September the conscription laws of the USSR was also signed. Many who had prior been protected due to being in vital industries was now no longer extempted from service, the age of service was also lowered to 17 years of age and a new recruitment propaganda offensive was launched aiming to get so many as possible into the armed forces. The effects would later prove itself: 8.65 million Soviet men was ready to fill the Soviet ranks. An unnamed Soviet general was reported to say "it's sad, now another 6 million young men and women will die for the motherland".
Long Live the Soviet Airforce!
Most of the Tactical and Strategic Bomber fleets had now arrived to Central Asia ready to provide close air support and strategic bombing. However the number of airbases greatly limited them as the Strategic Bombers had to operate from the Caucasus and the Tactical Bombers from various Siberian airbases. It became evident that the Soviet military had not prepared for a war in Siberia and central Asia. But the arrival of the Night Witches and other legendary Soviet pilots and squadrons greatly helped the Soviet armies in Asia and their morale.
The time for revenge has come!
While the Far East Front had suffered a humiliating and decisive defeat, faith had it that they could be of better use in Hong Kong. Southern China was sparseley defended and Popov took the chance to redeem himself. The plans for an offensive was set into motion. He spoke to his troops: "Redeem yourself. But most of all avenge your fallen comrades. For the Motherland!" This offensive, later called "Red Fury" could prove to be a major victory for the Soviets, or pulling out Japanese troops in the north to the south helping out the Central Asian Theater. Or it could end in another disaster.
Winter is coming..
September turned to October and following the arrival of the Leningrad and Baltic Fronts the front in central Asia had stabilised. Gone were the days of constant Soviet disorganised retreats, or as the generals named it "elastic defense", and both sides dug into their trenches as the first snow fell on the tall mountains of Asia. Prime conditions for the seasoned Soviet soldiers - yet horrible. There was no longer any illusion that the war would end by Christmas. The question was now if the war would end at all.
-----
*The four divisions reached the northern port which you can see in a later screenshot, but they then got attacked by the Japanese and was defeated..
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Many great films and tv series (and probably quite a few not so great) will doubtless be made about the last stands in the Far East. Talk about a propagandist's dream
Chapter 22.
Chapter 22: The fiercest Serpent may be overcome by a Swarm of Ants.
Trotsky readies the people for the final victory.
Four years following the Trotskyist Coup or "Political Revolution" and 25 years following the October Revolution, Trotsky and his clique had reasons to smile. Following the ascension of Trotsky they had in the yes of the west saved Europe from Stalin and in the eyes of the Left true socialism had been restored to the Soviet Union. Most importantly the USSR had become recognized by the western powers and many saw the USSR as a respected ally who saved the world from Nazism and Fascism. In October Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe,and MacArthur visited Moscow to watch a parade along with Trotsky - and to discuss the future of the war. Here Trotsky promised that "the full might of the Union will devour Japan and her lackeys. We will continue and stop at nothing, we will only accept the full surrender of the Emperor and the liberation of the Asiatic peoples". The Soviet agenda was clear, and it was seemingly similar to the Allied cause. Only time would show if these two power blocs would lock their horns or not..
The Red Banners of the Far East are as furious as their colors..
Prior to this the beaten Far Eastern Front, formed mostly of the Red Banner Armies, fanned out from Hong Kong. Their plan was to distract the Chinese and Japanese forces in the east to better facilitate for a full Soviet offensive, the secondary target was the southern Chinese provinces abundant in metals and minerals. One of the reasons Japan had annexed these territories afterall was to fuel their industry and in turn war economy. If the Soviet and Allied forces fanned out from Hong Kong they would prove not only that the Japanese Imperial Army was not invincible, but also deprive them of vital resources. Until the 1st of October the Red Army had taken the Imperial Army completely off guard and walsed in unopposed. Now they faced minor resistance, but they were advancing. News also spread that beside the contigent of Anzac Forces in the region, the British Lion would aid the Russian Bear in their struggle..
Japan have been stopped, for now.
Meanwhile in the theater that was now called the "Central Asian Theater" the Leningrad Front had amassed fully along the common Japanese-Soviet front. The ruthless Japanese campaign came to an end, the Soviets was now digging in, harassing their Japanese foes and waiting for the generals to fully plan their assaults. "We waited like mad dogs. Starved for days, starved for human blood. Our commanders held us back and we were ready to go to war. They held us on a leash as we pushed forward just waiting for us to be released upon our enemy. To release hell upon them" an unknown deceased Soviet soldier wrote in his blood stained diary.
The feared Afghans have been stopped at last.
Similarly the Afghan offensive had stopped. The outdated and mostly nomadic, clan based warlords had lost their momentum. Their lines was stretched out thinly, and their supply lines had all but stopped up. Such was the desperation of the Afghan warrior that they no longer had the arms Japan had provided them prior to Communard and British troops cutting Afganistan away from occpied Sinkiang. Now they relied solely on captured Soviet and British equipment, and they no longer had the advantage of knowing their own territory and fighting against a beaten enemy force. Instead British and Indian forces was nearing Kabul in the south engaging Afghan warriors in vicious mountain battles, in the north the invading Afghans had to dig in against an overwhelming foe, all the while being bombed from the air and by katyusha rockets, completely disrupting Afghan war efforts.
For whatever reason the airport in Afghanistan cannot reach Central Asia at all.
By the first of October most of the Soviet bomber fleet arrived to Central Asia or the Caucasus and started their merciless bombing campaign of the steppes and Afghanistan. Never before had the mostly tribal society witnessed such feriosity. The few roads in the nation was constantly harassed and entire villages and cities flattened. The "new Khalifate" had challenged the Russian Bear, and its people was left maimed. But despite the massive bombing campaigns former Sinkiang/Xinjiang the Japanese still dominated the skies. Mostly because of the Soviet Air Force not having airbases where fighters could operate from. In most cases sheer distance, but from Afghanistan the mountains was the issue.*
The Japanese doesn't like the turn of events.
In south China British divisions, including four armored divisions, unloaded their loads in Hong Kong by mid October. The Japanese was unable to hold off the joint Soviet-British forces and for a change of events were now in a phase of "elastic defense" as the Soviets had been for two years now. Japan was at a dilemma. Should they divert forces to the south to deal with the relative minor offensive and quell it once and for all at the risk of a Soviet general offensive from Siberia?
Perhaps we will reach into Central Asia now..
The Petlyakov Pe-2 had been under development since 1941, but following the developments in Asia it was decided it was to be service ready in around half a year. The mix between an escort fighter, long range fighter, night fighter and light bomber was needed in the vast steppes of Asia. The normal fighters had already shown off their downsides, a longrange fighter was needed if China was to be mounted. By its introduction in 1942 it would have a range of 1300 km, and four to seven machine guns ranging from 7.62 munitions to 12.7 and a payload of 1600 kg.
China will fall within christmas..
By the end of October the British and Soviet forces had made significant gains in southern China. Entering the mountain ranges their assault was halted for the first time. Popov adressed his men saying "they may beat us, they may force us to bleed and to flee. But we hit back, and we hit hard. We will reclaim Vladivostok again and honor our fallen comrades to the very end".
The great mustache will keep order in Europe.
In Europe Soviet High Command was looking for an exit strategy once the European forces had refitted, rested and excercised to acceptable levels of competence again. Marshal Semyion Budyonny was given the task to nominally lead the occupation force that was to be composed of 22 NKVD divisions. But at the moment he only had the nine surviving NKVD divisions following the Soviet invasion of Europe. 13 more was ordered and they were planned to be released early with minimal training.
The Red Army are put on its greatest trial of all time. To see if they can tame Afghanistan.
On the second of November Operation Magistral was given the green light. Soviet raiders and agents had crossed the borders for days since September, to inflitrate, spy, recon and to confuse the enemy. Rockets, mortars, howitzers an bombers had also pounded various locations in Afghanistan and along the borders in uneven intervals. The Afghans grew tired of these constant attacks - and nervous. Thousands deserted their posts or outright surrendered, but the Afghan warlords was confused. As Soviet artillery, recon forces and bombers had focused along the front many of the warlords didn't expect an attack. But it came. The Baltic Front rolled in with their tanks and took the Afghans by surprise as the British entered Kabul and the majority of Afghan forces turned to the southern mountains to face the southern invaders. But it was too late for that. The Red Army attacked from the north in full force. An Afghan soldier, formerly a shepherd, recalled "the sand and dirt was everywhere. The explosions was everywhere. The very ground punched us in the chest like a fist. I couldn't see anything, my eyes was filled with dirt and so was my mouth. I just laid their waiting for the next explosions, and the next and the next. I wanted to run, but I was paralysed. But when the bombing stopped I saw those who ran was no more, or they scavenged for their mutilated bodyparts. I was paralysed and in shock, I couldn't move. And soon other explosions followed, and with them small arms fire. The Soviet soldiers cam across us and couldn't do anything. I just laid there in my own excrements. powerless".
The Transcaucasian Front will show the Baltics how it is done..
By the night between the 5th and 6th of November the Transcaucasian Front launched a surprise offensive penetrating into the lines and mountains of the Afghan soldiers. The mass assaults proved to be too much for the tribal warriors and the Soviet soldiers was furious. "They came to our land. They raped our land, our people. We were now coming for them. And we would repay their crimes to the fullest, tenfolds. Their lands would be tainted in the blood of those who wronged us" a Soviet officer told his men to their cheering applause.
The great game is on..
The "New" Khalifate collapsed. Afghanistan herself was reached in the north, with most of southern and eastern Afghanistan firmly under British control. The Battle of Afghanistan now entered a second phase. No longer was there any frontlines, the Afghan warrior couldn't wage a convential war. Instead they retreated back to their mountains, hills and villages hoping to slow down their enemy and wage a war of attrition. But the Soviet forces was furious, ready to exact their revenge upon those who wronged them - and simply those who were in their way.
None shall be able to resist the NKVD and the mustache of Semyon now!
The NKVD was now again planned to have the various counter-intelligence agencies merged in one directorate under them. The SMERSH would be tasked with ruthelessly hunting down enemy partisans in occupied territories aswell as countering Japanese agents from inflitrating them, instead turning them. This would empower the European occupation forces, hopefully reducing the number of standing NKVD divisions standing, instead relying on SMERSH operatives.
Winter in Afghanistan shall not stop us.
Afghanistan was a special country. In the summer it was as heated as the Middle Eastern countries, but now in winter it was as frozen as Siberia. The tracks and wheels of Soviet tanks froze to ice along with rifles and men. But the Soviet forces was now entering the Afghan mountains engaging in cruel cave fights. A Soviet soldier compared the caves to city fighting, only that it was worse. More claustrophobic and unforgiving. The flamthrower and grenades became the soldiers closest friend. But Herat was also contested. The region now held the majority of Afghan warlords who still resisted, Soviet tanks and infantry was put into the area, who was bombarded from the air until nothing was left of it, to take out the Afghan leadership.
We actually managed it!
And Herat faced the fury of the Soviets. The Warlords ordered their men to lay down their arms, then they forever disappeared into Siberia. Many Afghan warriors refuse, however to lay down arms. The Red Army and NKVD figured out it was too much of a hassle to occupy Afghanistan. They wanted to put their troops to the east to liberate their motherland and their allies of Sinkiang and Mongolia, not to wage a war against insurgents. Afghanistan fell under British-Indian military administration, and it was also seen as a diplomatic victory by Britain as they finally "won" the great game. The Soviets saw it as throwing the British a bone to keep them content.
The Caucasians will take the mountains of central Asia..
What remained of the Turkestan front was then merged with the Transcaucasian Front, and they along with the Baltic Front was sent to the east to ready themself for a series of operations into Siberia, Mongolia and Sinkiang. Japan ws weary of a Soviet offensive. They waited in their trenches, ready for an assault. But for now they had to wait. Despite the constant bombings, the Soviets waited until their commanders had planned out their attacks and coordinated them, until the bombers had softened up the Japanese. Time was on their side.
Bonsai!
Still the Japanese Empire was not culled, it wasn't tamed. The Rising Sun still covered most of Asia with its sole intent on setting on Moscow and London. Japan launched attacks to the south of China, losing thousands of men in suicidal attacks and ordering their men in the south to hold out no matter what, to reach out to their ancestors warrior spirits. The fighting in the hills and jungles of southern China turned out to be most fericious. Both sides of the Japanese and the Soviets turned to outright brawls and clash between swords, calvary and bayonets more fitting for battles in the 19th century or before.
Too bad the British take the spoils of war from us..
By the 15th of December the Japanese counterattacked the British and Soviets in southern China, pushing the front back a little and creating a few pockets. But they didn't manage to break the allied forces and they had diverted forces from crucial areas, meanwhile losing major metal mines. The fighting was fierce, it was brutal. The British and Soviets hoped to link up their two western pockets with their main offensive, but to do so they had to traverse either through the treacherous hills or jungles, both having a clear record of brutal fighting in the favor of the Japanese.
But the fighting in southern China and Afghanistan was only a prelude, a small taste of what was to come. 1942 had so far been the deadliest year in the war with millions dying in mere months. Now the Japanese realised they had wokened two giants from their slumber in the west and to the east. It remained to be seen if the Japanese could withhold their combined power.
-----
*The eastern airbase in Afghanistan right at the border to Central Asia, well fighter planes can't reach into it.. Nope, ain't happening.
Also following this, probally tommorow or Sunday I will make a post about the war in general and the genral state of the USSR. So you'll see the industry of USSR and how the war is going on in the rest of the Pacific to get full overview of the "Eastern Storm". Then I might go from 3 months at a time to 6 or more for each update.
Trotsky readies the people for the final victory.
Four years following the Trotskyist Coup or "Political Revolution" and 25 years following the October Revolution, Trotsky and his clique had reasons to smile. Following the ascension of Trotsky they had in the yes of the west saved Europe from Stalin and in the eyes of the Left true socialism had been restored to the Soviet Union. Most importantly the USSR had become recognized by the western powers and many saw the USSR as a respected ally who saved the world from Nazism and Fascism. In October Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe,and MacArthur visited Moscow to watch a parade along with Trotsky - and to discuss the future of the war. Here Trotsky promised that "the full might of the Union will devour Japan and her lackeys. We will continue and stop at nothing, we will only accept the full surrender of the Emperor and the liberation of the Asiatic peoples". The Soviet agenda was clear, and it was seemingly similar to the Allied cause. Only time would show if these two power blocs would lock their horns or not..
The Red Banners of the Far East are as furious as their colors..
Prior to this the beaten Far Eastern Front, formed mostly of the Red Banner Armies, fanned out from Hong Kong. Their plan was to distract the Chinese and Japanese forces in the east to better facilitate for a full Soviet offensive, the secondary target was the southern Chinese provinces abundant in metals and minerals. One of the reasons Japan had annexed these territories afterall was to fuel their industry and in turn war economy. If the Soviet and Allied forces fanned out from Hong Kong they would prove not only that the Japanese Imperial Army was not invincible, but also deprive them of vital resources. Until the 1st of October the Red Army had taken the Imperial Army completely off guard and walsed in unopposed. Now they faced minor resistance, but they were advancing. News also spread that beside the contigent of Anzac Forces in the region, the British Lion would aid the Russian Bear in their struggle..
Japan have been stopped, for now.
Meanwhile in the theater that was now called the "Central Asian Theater" the Leningrad Front had amassed fully along the common Japanese-Soviet front. The ruthless Japanese campaign came to an end, the Soviets was now digging in, harassing their Japanese foes and waiting for the generals to fully plan their assaults. "We waited like mad dogs. Starved for days, starved for human blood. Our commanders held us back and we were ready to go to war. They held us on a leash as we pushed forward just waiting for us to be released upon our enemy. To release hell upon them" an unknown deceased Soviet soldier wrote in his blood stained diary.
The feared Afghans have been stopped at last.
Similarly the Afghan offensive had stopped. The outdated and mostly nomadic, clan based warlords had lost their momentum. Their lines was stretched out thinly, and their supply lines had all but stopped up. Such was the desperation of the Afghan warrior that they no longer had the arms Japan had provided them prior to Communard and British troops cutting Afganistan away from occpied Sinkiang. Now they relied solely on captured Soviet and British equipment, and they no longer had the advantage of knowing their own territory and fighting against a beaten enemy force. Instead British and Indian forces was nearing Kabul in the south engaging Afghan warriors in vicious mountain battles, in the north the invading Afghans had to dig in against an overwhelming foe, all the while being bombed from the air and by katyusha rockets, completely disrupting Afghan war efforts.
For whatever reason the airport in Afghanistan cannot reach Central Asia at all.
By the first of October most of the Soviet bomber fleet arrived to Central Asia or the Caucasus and started their merciless bombing campaign of the steppes and Afghanistan. Never before had the mostly tribal society witnessed such feriosity. The few roads in the nation was constantly harassed and entire villages and cities flattened. The "new Khalifate" had challenged the Russian Bear, and its people was left maimed. But despite the massive bombing campaigns former Sinkiang/Xinjiang the Japanese still dominated the skies. Mostly because of the Soviet Air Force not having airbases where fighters could operate from. In most cases sheer distance, but from Afghanistan the mountains was the issue.*
The Japanese doesn't like the turn of events.
In south China British divisions, including four armored divisions, unloaded their loads in Hong Kong by mid October. The Japanese was unable to hold off the joint Soviet-British forces and for a change of events were now in a phase of "elastic defense" as the Soviets had been for two years now. Japan was at a dilemma. Should they divert forces to the south to deal with the relative minor offensive and quell it once and for all at the risk of a Soviet general offensive from Siberia?
Perhaps we will reach into Central Asia now..
The Petlyakov Pe-2 had been under development since 1941, but following the developments in Asia it was decided it was to be service ready in around half a year. The mix between an escort fighter, long range fighter, night fighter and light bomber was needed in the vast steppes of Asia. The normal fighters had already shown off their downsides, a longrange fighter was needed if China was to be mounted. By its introduction in 1942 it would have a range of 1300 km, and four to seven machine guns ranging from 7.62 munitions to 12.7 and a payload of 1600 kg.
China will fall within christmas..
By the end of October the British and Soviet forces had made significant gains in southern China. Entering the mountain ranges their assault was halted for the first time. Popov adressed his men saying "they may beat us, they may force us to bleed and to flee. But we hit back, and we hit hard. We will reclaim Vladivostok again and honor our fallen comrades to the very end".
The great mustache will keep order in Europe.
In Europe Soviet High Command was looking for an exit strategy once the European forces had refitted, rested and excercised to acceptable levels of competence again. Marshal Semyion Budyonny was given the task to nominally lead the occupation force that was to be composed of 22 NKVD divisions. But at the moment he only had the nine surviving NKVD divisions following the Soviet invasion of Europe. 13 more was ordered and they were planned to be released early with minimal training.
The Red Army are put on its greatest trial of all time. To see if they can tame Afghanistan.
On the second of November Operation Magistral was given the green light. Soviet raiders and agents had crossed the borders for days since September, to inflitrate, spy, recon and to confuse the enemy. Rockets, mortars, howitzers an bombers had also pounded various locations in Afghanistan and along the borders in uneven intervals. The Afghans grew tired of these constant attacks - and nervous. Thousands deserted their posts or outright surrendered, but the Afghan warlords was confused. As Soviet artillery, recon forces and bombers had focused along the front many of the warlords didn't expect an attack. But it came. The Baltic Front rolled in with their tanks and took the Afghans by surprise as the British entered Kabul and the majority of Afghan forces turned to the southern mountains to face the southern invaders. But it was too late for that. The Red Army attacked from the north in full force. An Afghan soldier, formerly a shepherd, recalled "the sand and dirt was everywhere. The explosions was everywhere. The very ground punched us in the chest like a fist. I couldn't see anything, my eyes was filled with dirt and so was my mouth. I just laid their waiting for the next explosions, and the next and the next. I wanted to run, but I was paralysed. But when the bombing stopped I saw those who ran was no more, or they scavenged for their mutilated bodyparts. I was paralysed and in shock, I couldn't move. And soon other explosions followed, and with them small arms fire. The Soviet soldiers cam across us and couldn't do anything. I just laid there in my own excrements. powerless".
The Transcaucasian Front will show the Baltics how it is done..
By the night between the 5th and 6th of November the Transcaucasian Front launched a surprise offensive penetrating into the lines and mountains of the Afghan soldiers. The mass assaults proved to be too much for the tribal warriors and the Soviet soldiers was furious. "They came to our land. They raped our land, our people. We were now coming for them. And we would repay their crimes to the fullest, tenfolds. Their lands would be tainted in the blood of those who wronged us" a Soviet officer told his men to their cheering applause.
The great game is on..
The "New" Khalifate collapsed. Afghanistan herself was reached in the north, with most of southern and eastern Afghanistan firmly under British control. The Battle of Afghanistan now entered a second phase. No longer was there any frontlines, the Afghan warrior couldn't wage a convential war. Instead they retreated back to their mountains, hills and villages hoping to slow down their enemy and wage a war of attrition. But the Soviet forces was furious, ready to exact their revenge upon those who wronged them - and simply those who were in their way.
None shall be able to resist the NKVD and the mustache of Semyon now!
The NKVD was now again planned to have the various counter-intelligence agencies merged in one directorate under them. The SMERSH would be tasked with ruthelessly hunting down enemy partisans in occupied territories aswell as countering Japanese agents from inflitrating them, instead turning them. This would empower the European occupation forces, hopefully reducing the number of standing NKVD divisions standing, instead relying on SMERSH operatives.
Winter in Afghanistan shall not stop us.
Afghanistan was a special country. In the summer it was as heated as the Middle Eastern countries, but now in winter it was as frozen as Siberia. The tracks and wheels of Soviet tanks froze to ice along with rifles and men. But the Soviet forces was now entering the Afghan mountains engaging in cruel cave fights. A Soviet soldier compared the caves to city fighting, only that it was worse. More claustrophobic and unforgiving. The flamthrower and grenades became the soldiers closest friend. But Herat was also contested. The region now held the majority of Afghan warlords who still resisted, Soviet tanks and infantry was put into the area, who was bombarded from the air until nothing was left of it, to take out the Afghan leadership.
We actually managed it!
And Herat faced the fury of the Soviets. The Warlords ordered their men to lay down their arms, then they forever disappeared into Siberia. Many Afghan warriors refuse, however to lay down arms. The Red Army and NKVD figured out it was too much of a hassle to occupy Afghanistan. They wanted to put their troops to the east to liberate their motherland and their allies of Sinkiang and Mongolia, not to wage a war against insurgents. Afghanistan fell under British-Indian military administration, and it was also seen as a diplomatic victory by Britain as they finally "won" the great game. The Soviets saw it as throwing the British a bone to keep them content.
The Caucasians will take the mountains of central Asia..
What remained of the Turkestan front was then merged with the Transcaucasian Front, and they along with the Baltic Front was sent to the east to ready themself for a series of operations into Siberia, Mongolia and Sinkiang. Japan ws weary of a Soviet offensive. They waited in their trenches, ready for an assault. But for now they had to wait. Despite the constant bombings, the Soviets waited until their commanders had planned out their attacks and coordinated them, until the bombers had softened up the Japanese. Time was on their side.
Bonsai!
Still the Japanese Empire was not culled, it wasn't tamed. The Rising Sun still covered most of Asia with its sole intent on setting on Moscow and London. Japan launched attacks to the south of China, losing thousands of men in suicidal attacks and ordering their men in the south to hold out no matter what, to reach out to their ancestors warrior spirits. The fighting in the hills and jungles of southern China turned out to be most fericious. Both sides of the Japanese and the Soviets turned to outright brawls and clash between swords, calvary and bayonets more fitting for battles in the 19th century or before.
Too bad the British take the spoils of war from us..
By the 15th of December the Japanese counterattacked the British and Soviets in southern China, pushing the front back a little and creating a few pockets. But they didn't manage to break the allied forces and they had diverted forces from crucial areas, meanwhile losing major metal mines. The fighting was fierce, it was brutal. The British and Soviets hoped to link up their two western pockets with their main offensive, but to do so they had to traverse either through the treacherous hills or jungles, both having a clear record of brutal fighting in the favor of the Japanese.
But the fighting in southern China and Afghanistan was only a prelude, a small taste of what was to come. 1942 had so far been the deadliest year in the war with millions dying in mere months. Now the Japanese realised they had wokened two giants from their slumber in the west and to the east. It remained to be seen if the Japanese could withhold their combined power.
-----
*The eastern airbase in Afghanistan right at the border to Central Asia, well fighter planes can't reach into it.. Nope, ain't happening.
Also following this, probally tommorow or Sunday I will make a post about the war in general and the genral state of the USSR. So you'll see the industry of USSR and how the war is going on in the rest of the Pacific to get full overview of the "Eastern Storm". Then I might go from 3 months at a time to 6 or more for each update.
Japan is going to get squished.
But I think there is going to be a lot of mess in the squishing, as it were.
You know, the Brits and Russians spend so much time fighting alongside each other these days one would almost thing they were comrades
But I think there is going to be a lot of mess in the squishing, as it were.
You know, the Brits and Russians spend so much time fighting alongside each other these days one would almost thing they were comrades
Perhaps someone should politely point out to them that by many measures, Afghanistan is in Central Asia....
Probably. It's HOI after all. Everything can be solved with warfare in this game.
More like a poisoned chalice...especially for India if they get stuck with it after indeoednance. If not, there's going to be a nasty three way war a time least between them, the afghans and the British for rights in that country.
Japan is going to get squished.
But I think there is going to be a lot of mess in the squishing, as it were.
You know, the Brits and Russians spend so much time fighting alongside each other these days one would almost thing they were comrades
It's a potent combination but due to circumstances probably not one that is ever going to be repeated any time soon in OTL.
Japan is going to get squished.
But I think there is going to be a lot of mess in the squishing, as it were.
You know, the Brits and Russians spend so much time fighting alongside each other these days one would almost thing they were comrades
The Lion and the Bear might be good hunting partners, but when the prey is devoured who knows what will happen
Well the air zones have spoken, and planes in Afghanistan can't reach into Central Asia
It is impossible, hopefully as we push forward we'll gain new airbases.. or heavy fighters. And yes, warfare solves every problem in HoI4 But at least the partisanship in Afghanistan should be high, so British Raj won't be able to reap the benefits from Afghanistan, if they have any industry at all that is...Yeah I can imagine that Afghanistan might be the Poland of central Asia.. Basically that the great powers do much of the fighting over their soil, afterall it used to be a convenient buffer state, now the many mountains and low supply areas will lead to great battles of attrition I suspect..
State of the World War.
State of the World War.
The Empire of Japan entered the world war as the subjocator of the once mighty China. Having vast resources at her disposal and confident of her former victory Japan, Italy and Germany developed the Tripartite Pact into a full fledged alliance. Soon the Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere joined the Pact of Steel in their wars against the Commonwealth of Nations. This led to a rapid Japanese conquest of most of the Pacific, only being stopped in Signapore, Burma, Hong Kong and Australia, and Indonesia, the crown jewel of the Dutch colonial empire, fell to the Imperial forces of Japan. The islands north of Australia was all conquered by the ferocious Japanese warrior. Australia herself became the victim of bombing campaigns from airfields on small islands such as Guadacanal and larger from ones from Papua New Guinea. But this major expansion, combined with their drive to the Bering Strait worried USA. Ever since the rape of Nanjing the public opinion in US had been against Japan, US intervention in the Pacific War was crucial for the current situation in the Pacific.
Hopefully the volcanic rock won't be useless..
Perhaps the greatest testimony of US power projection was Iwo Jima. What for the soldiers on the field was nothing but a volcanic rock transformed to a massgrave was in fact the first time any of the allied nations occupied Japanese soil, conquering a part of their very soul. Of the 110.000 Americans participating in the battle around 70.000 counted among the V. Amphibious Corps, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and the 147th Infantry Regiment. Despite bombing the island for days and reducing it to nothing but a smoking rubble the Japanese defenders was well entrenched and fought gallantly for the island despite the overwhelming American forces. The IJN tried numerous times to break the USN grip on the island, but failed numerous times. Their last effort to liberate the island from sea was at the 1st of January 1943, at the loss of a battleship and an aircraft carieer. The objective of the Iwo Jiman campaign was to gain the airfield (both to disrupt Japanese aerial campaigns and to gain a base of operations for US escort planes) and to use the island as a springboard into Okinawa or even Japan itself. But despite the tall casualties on both sides during the 35 long campaign US high command found little use for the airfield. Of the over 17.000 dead Japanese soldiers, only 216 surrendered. This was a forewarning of Japanese zealoutry when fighting on their own homeland. Still this battle proved to the US, Japan and the world that the allied forces was able to take on Japanese home territory and that the days of Japanese dominance in air and on the sea was over.*
American soldiers island hopping. Destination: Okinawa.
Following the successes in Iwo Jima US high command prepared to launch an offensive into Okinawa. 17 US divisions, spearheaded by the 10th Army, was given the task to invade the islands from Iwo Jima and the Phillipines. If US forces controlled Okinawa they would pose a serious and dangerous threat to Chinese and Japanese mainland, and put an end to the war. But following the experiences from Iwo Jima and the other battles that will soon be detailed, US commanders and soldiers alike dreaded the moment they were to invade core Japanese territory. It was certain to become ugly.**
Palau is still a hotly contested island, hopefully the sacrifices won't be in vain.
Another battle that had turned ugly was the battle Palau. Like Iwo Jima the goal was to gain an airbase and a base of operation in general in the area. But the battle that started on the 18th of November was still not over. The 1st Marine Division and 81st Infantry Division had as of yet failed to break the Japanese garrisons. It was believed it would take another month or so to gain complete control of the island chain. Despite outnumbering the Japanese forces 4:1, the Americans would suffer around 2000 casualties at the hand of 10.000 Japanese casualties and it would indeed drag on for another month. The battle became renowned for its grueling conditions and getting known as "the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines". Still with US forces taking most of Palau and Iwo Jima the noose was tightening around the neck of the God Emperor.
The results of American island hopping, complete control of the Pacific.
Looking at the Pacific Theater for the Americans as a whole one can see their dominant position that they had attained in the prior months. The islands leading up to Japan had come under American control because of amphibious landings and naval dominance. This in turn was secured mostly because of their strategic positions in Guam, Wake Island, Midway and the Phillipines. As USA joined the war the Japanese tried to invade Guam and the Phillipines, but they failed. This would in turn lead to US forces gaining a foothold in the Pacific region and to in turn project that position to command and control the Japanese pacific possessions. However with the war in Europe over USA was ready, as the UK and USSR, to focus on battling their common Imperial navy. Roosevelt and Lord Halifax had agreed upon the "Germany First" strategy. In short this entailed that British and American forces should focus on battling the German foe, the Land of the Rising Sun was still on the horizon. But with Germany and Italy defeated US troops could send most of their navies and armies and their respective air forces to the theater. The bases in the Phillipines, US territories and islands such as Palau and Iwo Jima was potential staging grounds.***
Japan cling on to their favorite tourist locations of '38-'42.
The Australasian theater had also changed rapidly. The Dutch and Australian islands had fallen to Japanese occupation, but with the US Navy dominating the seas it allowed for ANZAC, South African and British forces to deploy their forces with greater room of manuever. However the fighting soon took to a stillstand. But then USA, again, reverted the rules of the game. It started with an offensive into Guadacanal by the 1st Marine Division and later on a general invasion of the various islands, before reinforcing Papua New Guinea and pushing the Japanese invading forces slowly but steadly toward four small pockets in the region. Still the Japanese bombing raids ended over Australia, and the threat of invasion had come to an end.
Smoking kills.
But how did Japan lose their possessions in the Pacific and lose the war? It all started near Pearl Harbor as USA entered the war. The Japanese hoped to attack the port, but Soviet, American and British intelligence services had decoded the attack. The US forces instead went head on, they attacked. While the Japanese planes was heading toward Pearl Harbor American planes lifted from the American carriers and attacked the Japanese task force while the American fleet got into position and attacked the IJN. Japan lost all in all 4 carriers, 2 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers and numerous smaller ships. Following this the US Navy and Royal Navy pursued an aggressive stance hunting down the Japanese Navy. They got word of an impending attack on Guam and the Phillipines, instead of a Japanese amphibious invasion the Japanese navy suffered irreversible defeats throughout 1942. The US Navy and Royal Navy slowly but steadly followed up with naval offensives in the Solomon Islands, Coral Sea, Micronesia, Phillipines and the Mariana sea. By 1943 the once proud Japanese Navy was reduced to two carriers, four battleships, a lone battlecruiser companies with a lone light cruiser and a lone destroyer.
Hopefully Japan will continue to pour troops to the mighty Empire of Siam.
But the war continued on in other theaters where the US was not engaged in. One of them was British Malaya and Siam, or Thailand. Just a year earlier Siamese and Japanese forces had reache the outskirts of Singapore. If Britain lost this region they would essentially lose control of the region and deprive their empire of much needed resources. But following Japanese defeats further east several Commonwealth divisions and brigades was transferred from the Corals and Solomons to Malay. In 1943 after years of horrible jungle warfare Allied forces had pushed the Axis almost all the way back to Siam proper.
The full might of the British Empire descend upon Siam and Germany?
However this northward push was helped by British and Indian offensives from British-Raj. Japan, Siam and Chinese forces had diverted extradionary amounts of resources to control Burma. In order to make Malay and India fall, but most importantly to gain their rubber industry and to close the Burma road that enabled Chinese resistance in Japan controlled China and it was a potential site for an invasion of China. The Burma-Yunnan-Siamese border area had developed into a massive battleground where hundreds of thousands perished in the jungles of the region, it was difficult to see if most died due to the traumatic conditions, battles or the many diseases. Or a mix between all of them. But by late December of '42 Australian, New Zealander and British forces launched a daring amphibious offensive to take on Bangkok itself. They succeded and now threatened to encircle Siamese and Japanese forces and to take on Nazi fanatics who had established themselves in Indochina. In Indochina these fanatics managed to force the natives to serve in their battles and attract French nationalists and right wingers who believed only the Axis could liberate their motherland from communism.*****
Is the liberation of China at hand?
By 1943 the British stepped up their game in southern China, now having 32 divisions or brigades in the region. This put immense pressure on Japan as they were threatened by the Soviet Union from Sinkiang and Mongolia. USA from Iwo Jima, Palau and the Phillipines. The Commonwealth in Burma and Malaya and finally British and Soviet forces in southern China. The noose was instead tightening around the Emperor's neck. Would it break him, or would he manage to escape it?
The price for freedom.
Yet the three seperate wars (the German-Little Entente war that ended years earlier, the Allied-Axis war and the Soviet-Axis wars) that became known as the Second World War demanded unimaginable sacrifice. It was estimated that during the German-Little Entente War, Germany had around 292.000 casualties, while France had around 407.000 casualties with the rest of the Entente around 280.000 casualties at a total of 572.000. But these numbers paled in comparison on what was to come. The Allied-Axis war claimed 4.94 million losses among the Axis and 3.15 million among the Allies. On top of this the Axis lost 3.64 million in their war against the communists, while the Internationale lost around 8.81 million losses. The Second World War had thus far claimed 21.11 million casualties. And that was just among the estimated military casualties, civillian ones was projected to be far higher. It was now 1943 and Japan was for now on the retreat, but who knew how the war would develop in the future. All participants in the war, worker or soldier, Japanese or Greek or Russian had a long walk ahead. The outcome of the war would define generations to come and humankind as a whole.
"We shall fight them on the beaches".
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*So the numbers on the fighting on the islands are based upon IRL casualties. I have no idea how they went in the game, they are likely to have minimal casualties.
**So I just tagged US to check out their future plans. And they are quite competent surprisingly, planning to invade Okinawa with 17 divisions! It remain to be seen if that actually happens.
***Im actually surprised on how capable the AI were to take these islands. Hopefully this will lead to US forces pouring to the area and taking on China or Japan.
*****So well Germany still have Indochina. And they maanged to recruit 9 or 13 divisions. I can't imagine that being German based divisions to be honest
Okay so I divided this update to two parts. This one is about the current war in a broader view, so it is more focused on the Allied part of the war as opposed to the Soviet efforts as we usually see. The next one will be more boring with just quickly glancing over the current Soviet industry, stockpiles, production and techs. I do this simply if you're interested to get a glance at what isn't covered in the updates and/or to get a more whole impression of the progression of the war.
The Empire of Japan entered the world war as the subjocator of the once mighty China. Having vast resources at her disposal and confident of her former victory Japan, Italy and Germany developed the Tripartite Pact into a full fledged alliance. Soon the Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere joined the Pact of Steel in their wars against the Commonwealth of Nations. This led to a rapid Japanese conquest of most of the Pacific, only being stopped in Signapore, Burma, Hong Kong and Australia, and Indonesia, the crown jewel of the Dutch colonial empire, fell to the Imperial forces of Japan. The islands north of Australia was all conquered by the ferocious Japanese warrior. Australia herself became the victim of bombing campaigns from airfields on small islands such as Guadacanal and larger from ones from Papua New Guinea. But this major expansion, combined with their drive to the Bering Strait worried USA. Ever since the rape of Nanjing the public opinion in US had been against Japan, US intervention in the Pacific War was crucial for the current situation in the Pacific.
Hopefully the volcanic rock won't be useless..
Perhaps the greatest testimony of US power projection was Iwo Jima. What for the soldiers on the field was nothing but a volcanic rock transformed to a massgrave was in fact the first time any of the allied nations occupied Japanese soil, conquering a part of their very soul. Of the 110.000 Americans participating in the battle around 70.000 counted among the V. Amphibious Corps, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and the 147th Infantry Regiment. Despite bombing the island for days and reducing it to nothing but a smoking rubble the Japanese defenders was well entrenched and fought gallantly for the island despite the overwhelming American forces. The IJN tried numerous times to break the USN grip on the island, but failed numerous times. Their last effort to liberate the island from sea was at the 1st of January 1943, at the loss of a battleship and an aircraft carieer. The objective of the Iwo Jiman campaign was to gain the airfield (both to disrupt Japanese aerial campaigns and to gain a base of operations for US escort planes) and to use the island as a springboard into Okinawa or even Japan itself. But despite the tall casualties on both sides during the 35 long campaign US high command found little use for the airfield. Of the over 17.000 dead Japanese soldiers, only 216 surrendered. This was a forewarning of Japanese zealoutry when fighting on their own homeland. Still this battle proved to the US, Japan and the world that the allied forces was able to take on Japanese home territory and that the days of Japanese dominance in air and on the sea was over.*
American soldiers island hopping. Destination: Okinawa.
Following the successes in Iwo Jima US high command prepared to launch an offensive into Okinawa. 17 US divisions, spearheaded by the 10th Army, was given the task to invade the islands from Iwo Jima and the Phillipines. If US forces controlled Okinawa they would pose a serious and dangerous threat to Chinese and Japanese mainland, and put an end to the war. But following the experiences from Iwo Jima and the other battles that will soon be detailed, US commanders and soldiers alike dreaded the moment they were to invade core Japanese territory. It was certain to become ugly.**
Palau is still a hotly contested island, hopefully the sacrifices won't be in vain.
Another battle that had turned ugly was the battle Palau. Like Iwo Jima the goal was to gain an airbase and a base of operation in general in the area. But the battle that started on the 18th of November was still not over. The 1st Marine Division and 81st Infantry Division had as of yet failed to break the Japanese garrisons. It was believed it would take another month or so to gain complete control of the island chain. Despite outnumbering the Japanese forces 4:1, the Americans would suffer around 2000 casualties at the hand of 10.000 Japanese casualties and it would indeed drag on for another month. The battle became renowned for its grueling conditions and getting known as "the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines". Still with US forces taking most of Palau and Iwo Jima the noose was tightening around the neck of the God Emperor.
The results of American island hopping, complete control of the Pacific.
Looking at the Pacific Theater for the Americans as a whole one can see their dominant position that they had attained in the prior months. The islands leading up to Japan had come under American control because of amphibious landings and naval dominance. This in turn was secured mostly because of their strategic positions in Guam, Wake Island, Midway and the Phillipines. As USA joined the war the Japanese tried to invade Guam and the Phillipines, but they failed. This would in turn lead to US forces gaining a foothold in the Pacific region and to in turn project that position to command and control the Japanese pacific possessions. However with the war in Europe over USA was ready, as the UK and USSR, to focus on battling their common Imperial navy. Roosevelt and Lord Halifax had agreed upon the "Germany First" strategy. In short this entailed that British and American forces should focus on battling the German foe, the Land of the Rising Sun was still on the horizon. But with Germany and Italy defeated US troops could send most of their navies and armies and their respective air forces to the theater. The bases in the Phillipines, US territories and islands such as Palau and Iwo Jima was potential staging grounds.***
Japan cling on to their favorite tourist locations of '38-'42.
The Australasian theater had also changed rapidly. The Dutch and Australian islands had fallen to Japanese occupation, but with the US Navy dominating the seas it allowed for ANZAC, South African and British forces to deploy their forces with greater room of manuever. However the fighting soon took to a stillstand. But then USA, again, reverted the rules of the game. It started with an offensive into Guadacanal by the 1st Marine Division and later on a general invasion of the various islands, before reinforcing Papua New Guinea and pushing the Japanese invading forces slowly but steadly toward four small pockets in the region. Still the Japanese bombing raids ended over Australia, and the threat of invasion had come to an end.
Smoking kills.
But how did Japan lose their possessions in the Pacific and lose the war? It all started near Pearl Harbor as USA entered the war. The Japanese hoped to attack the port, but Soviet, American and British intelligence services had decoded the attack. The US forces instead went head on, they attacked. While the Japanese planes was heading toward Pearl Harbor American planes lifted from the American carriers and attacked the Japanese task force while the American fleet got into position and attacked the IJN. Japan lost all in all 4 carriers, 2 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers and numerous smaller ships. Following this the US Navy and Royal Navy pursued an aggressive stance hunting down the Japanese Navy. They got word of an impending attack on Guam and the Phillipines, instead of a Japanese amphibious invasion the Japanese navy suffered irreversible defeats throughout 1942. The US Navy and Royal Navy slowly but steadly followed up with naval offensives in the Solomon Islands, Coral Sea, Micronesia, Phillipines and the Mariana sea. By 1943 the once proud Japanese Navy was reduced to two carriers, four battleships, a lone battlecruiser companies with a lone light cruiser and a lone destroyer.
Hopefully Japan will continue to pour troops to the mighty Empire of Siam.
But the war continued on in other theaters where the US was not engaged in. One of them was British Malaya and Siam, or Thailand. Just a year earlier Siamese and Japanese forces had reache the outskirts of Singapore. If Britain lost this region they would essentially lose control of the region and deprive their empire of much needed resources. But following Japanese defeats further east several Commonwealth divisions and brigades was transferred from the Corals and Solomons to Malay. In 1943 after years of horrible jungle warfare Allied forces had pushed the Axis almost all the way back to Siam proper.
The full might of the British Empire descend upon Siam and Germany?
However this northward push was helped by British and Indian offensives from British-Raj. Japan, Siam and Chinese forces had diverted extradionary amounts of resources to control Burma. In order to make Malay and India fall, but most importantly to gain their rubber industry and to close the Burma road that enabled Chinese resistance in Japan controlled China and it was a potential site for an invasion of China. The Burma-Yunnan-Siamese border area had developed into a massive battleground where hundreds of thousands perished in the jungles of the region, it was difficult to see if most died due to the traumatic conditions, battles or the many diseases. Or a mix between all of them. But by late December of '42 Australian, New Zealander and British forces launched a daring amphibious offensive to take on Bangkok itself. They succeded and now threatened to encircle Siamese and Japanese forces and to take on Nazi fanatics who had established themselves in Indochina. In Indochina these fanatics managed to force the natives to serve in their battles and attract French nationalists and right wingers who believed only the Axis could liberate their motherland from communism.*****
Is the liberation of China at hand?
By 1943 the British stepped up their game in southern China, now having 32 divisions or brigades in the region. This put immense pressure on Japan as they were threatened by the Soviet Union from Sinkiang and Mongolia. USA from Iwo Jima, Palau and the Phillipines. The Commonwealth in Burma and Malaya and finally British and Soviet forces in southern China. The noose was instead tightening around the Emperor's neck. Would it break him, or would he manage to escape it?
The price for freedom.
Yet the three seperate wars (the German-Little Entente war that ended years earlier, the Allied-Axis war and the Soviet-Axis wars) that became known as the Second World War demanded unimaginable sacrifice. It was estimated that during the German-Little Entente War, Germany had around 292.000 casualties, while France had around 407.000 casualties with the rest of the Entente around 280.000 casualties at a total of 572.000. But these numbers paled in comparison on what was to come. The Allied-Axis war claimed 4.94 million losses among the Axis and 3.15 million among the Allies. On top of this the Axis lost 3.64 million in their war against the communists, while the Internationale lost around 8.81 million losses. The Second World War had thus far claimed 21.11 million casualties. And that was just among the estimated military casualties, civillian ones was projected to be far higher. It was now 1943 and Japan was for now on the retreat, but who knew how the war would develop in the future. All participants in the war, worker or soldier, Japanese or Greek or Russian had a long walk ahead. The outcome of the war would define generations to come and humankind as a whole.
"We shall fight them on the beaches".
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*So the numbers on the fighting on the islands are based upon IRL casualties. I have no idea how they went in the game, they are likely to have minimal casualties.
**So I just tagged US to check out their future plans. And they are quite competent surprisingly, planning to invade Okinawa with 17 divisions! It remain to be seen if that actually happens.
***Im actually surprised on how capable the AI were to take these islands. Hopefully this will lead to US forces pouring to the area and taking on China or Japan.
*****So well Germany still have Indochina. And they maanged to recruit 9 or 13 divisions. I can't imagine that being German based divisions to be honest
Okay so I divided this update to two parts. This one is about the current war in a broader view, so it is more focused on the Allied part of the war as opposed to the Soviet efforts as we usually see. The next one will be more boring with just quickly glancing over the current Soviet industry, stockpiles, production and techs. I do this simply if you're interested to get a glance at what isn't covered in the updates and/or to get a more whole impression of the progression of the war.
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The world situation looks surprisingly positive. And indeed - there is a sometimes encouraging proficiency from the AI when it comes to amphib I find. Sometimes ;D
State of the Union.
State of the Union.
[/SPOILER
The Soviet economy had an awesome growth during the 30s and especially the 40s as the economy shifted toward a war economy and to meet the massive demands of the war effort. Despite this massive growth (fielding a larger industrial base than industrialised nations such as the United Kingdom and France) there was much room for improvement and further growth, optimistic economists predicted that the planned economy of the USSR would overtake USA in the 50s or 60s and then "all will learn the marvels of socialism firsthand". Still the majority of the growth benefited the military, and the average worker didn't enjoy the reaps of this rapid industralization. Still it held a major potential to be transformed to a civilian economy.
Since the onset of the war the majority of new factories and industralization was focused around the Ural mountains and east of the Urals and the Volga river. The coasts in the west had also been used to develop new dockyards and other factories to build parts to the expanding Soviet Navy. After the Red Army occupied most of Europe the focus of the Soviet planned economy was to repair the damaged industries first in the Soviet Union and then occupied Europe. This endeavour was ended in record time baffling the planners of the USSR. The focus would now to finish up the naval expansion plants and the plants east of the Urals, and then to focus on building up the economy in European Russia, Ukraine and Belarus - with the newly acquired territories in Poland holding a massive potential for economic development.
These new factories was put into good use. They would upgrade and reinforce the Red Army, the Air Force and the Red Fleet. For the Red Fleet the Arkhangelsk Class (Project-21) and Sovetsky Soyuz Class battleships took the most resources to produce, where the latter outmatched even the heaviest of American, British and Japanese battleships. The losses the Red Fleets had substained was then planned to be replaced before the fleets was modernized.
The materials for the army and air forces was also well underway, yet there was major deficits in certain areas. Obsolete equipment (such as the BT-7, SVT/38 and SVT/40) was produced as they were cheaper and the plan was for full reinforcements before these lines would be converted into upgrades, or until better technology came around.
The Soviet supply situation had improved - somewhat. There was still a massive deficit with small arms and light tanks, but it was hoped the planned dominance of medium tanks would reduce the dependance on light tanks, and most Soviet soldiers were used to going to the front without a weapon, waiting for one to become avaible.. The US had several times pushed for the Soviet Union to accept Lend Lease offers. The official reason was that the Soviet Union didn't want to become indebted to a capitalist power, however the real reason was that they didn't have the around 1000 convoys the lend lease required, but instead only 242.
The massive increase in Soviet armament industry had in 1942 made the USSR rely on oil, steel and tungsten imports for the first time since the Civil Wars. However the vast lands that was rich in minerals and oils also made it so that the USSR exported great amounts of oil, aluminium, tungsten, even some rubber, stell and chromium which benefitted the Soviet economy.
The Red Army was a major one consisting of over 200 divisions. The majority was still infantry divisions, but it fielded an impressive amount of 53 armored units (various armored brigades, motorised divisions and mechanized corps). When the arms industry picked up it was hoped that several new paratrooper and mountaineer divisions would be established, along with entire new armies worth of motorised rifle divisions, rifle divisions and armored formations.
The Soviet airforce was quite impressive, focusing greatly on short range fighters taking control of the skies with dive bombers and medium bombers providing air support to ground units, and medium and heavy bombers provding strategic bombing. The Soviet Air Force also fielded many naval bombers who protected Soviet waters from naval incursions. It was planned for the Soviet Union to introduce heavy fighters/light bombers soon to escort bombers, intercept bombers and conduct long range aerial supremacy missions.
The Soviet Red Fleets bleaked in comparison to the western naval powers. However it consisted of several modern battleships (one being the dreaded Sovetsky Soyuz Class "super" battleship) and cruisers, but the impressive submarine fleet had suffered towering casualties, and the many lost submarines and destroyers had to be replaced. The Kriegsmarine and Imperial Japanese Navy had sunk 38 submarines and 10 destroyers over the course of the war. These numbers needed to be replenished if the USSR ever hoped to defend their waters against the US and Royal Navies.
The common soldier of the Soviet Union was outfitted with fairly modern weapons and equipment, and plans was made to modernize anti-tank weapons and develop new standard issued rifles, sub-machine guns and light-machine guns.
The signal, recon, medical, MP and engineer units of the Red Army had fairly outdated equipment and doctrines tracing its origins back to 1936 and the Red Army wanted to gain new support equipment and docrines they had requested since 1939 and even new equipment requested in 1942 ((currently the techs are 1936, the next ones are 1939 and 1942)), but it was uncertain if these demands would be met. There was, however, no plans to include supply and mechanical units to the Red Army as of now.
The Soviet artillery was also fairly outdated. The reason why the 25 mm AA, 45 mm AT and 152 mm howitzers hadn't been introduced to production lines was the fact the Soviet industry struggled enough with leeping up the production of their current howitzers, AA and AT guns. The Red Army also asked for the diversity program to develop the M-8-6 rocket launcher system and further develop their rocket launcher capabilities. Mostly to improve the infamous Trotsky Orgels, but also to give non-motorised and non-armored infantry a dedicated rocket launcher system of their own.
The armored formations of the Red Army was quite modern, taking the German Panzerwaffen by surprise. Still they lacked behind in terms of tank destroyers/assault guns, self-propelled (SP) artillery and SP AA guns. It was also looked into possibilities to create medium and heavy tank destroyers and SP guns based upon the T-34 and KV-1 chassis'.
The Soviet doctrine of Deep Battle was fully developed on the theoretical part, much thanks to the relentless work of Tukhachevsky. It was currently a power struggle between the Soviet Union if the funds allocated to the development of Deep Battle should be allocated to the rocket industry, theoretical air doctrines or nuclear development. ((If the next theorist should be the rocket theorist, air theorist or nuclear theorist)).
The Soviet CAS and fighters was fairly modern, and while they developed heavy fighters the tactical, naval and strategic bombers needed an upgrade in the near future.
The Soviet Air Force relied upon the doctrine of Battlefield Support. But despite their practical knowledge on the matter they lagged behind on the theoretical plane as most of the efforts had been given to developing land doctrines. As Tukhachevsky said "at the end of the day, it is the land forces that win the war".
If the Red Fleets was to be modernized many new designs had to be created for their Submarines, destroyers, cruisers and battleships. The fact that the Red Fleets didn't have any plans for a carriers was concerning looking on the recent developments in the Pacific. But what was perhaps the most pressing was to create new means of supporting naval invasions. The campaign in Italy had proven the Soviet lack of experience and capabilities in this area, only being able to ship 10 divisions at a time, needing 70 days to prepare the jump. The navy needed new toys if they were ever to invade Japan and wage war against the Allies.
The Soviet Naval Commanders was in contrast to their Army counterparts quite conservative focusing on the fleet in being doctrine. However new voices aired the opinion that the Soviet Union didn't have enough battleships to focus on this, and should instead develop doctrines for commerce raiding as the Germans did, or follow the example of Japan and USA in the Pacific seeing the impressive results.
But the USSR had focused greatly on its industry and here they had state of the art technology. By 1943 blueprints was made by the many soviets and the commisariats to create more effective methods of production and machines.
The electronical Soviet industry was also quite advanced, much thanks to the Leningrad Company. Computing and decryption and encryption was advanced and given great resources so that they could always be one step ahead of their enemies. Radars, however, hadn't been properly developed. But it was planned to create advanced radars that could hopefully cover all of the waters into Soviet waters and lands and even into the UK and USA. Soviet nuclear technology wasn't as advanced as the USA, but it had gotten a lot more attention following the research cities experiments. Rockets was also looked into by the diversity program, and currently it was a powerstruggle between the Army and Air Force if the program should use their funds to develop artillery focused rockets for the Army or develop rocket engines and jet engines for the air force...
Such was the State of the Union in 1943, it had much potential as it were far ahead in many areas, but lacked behind in others. Hopefully, for the USSR, it would be able to modernize itself and produce the required amounts of small arms and ships for the war against Japan and a potential war against the Allies...
-----
So here was the fairly boring (I suppose) update, but it was meant to give you an understanding of the current in-game situation and future plans for research etc.
The Soviet economy had an awesome growth during the 30s and especially the 40s as the economy shifted toward a war economy and to meet the massive demands of the war effort. Despite this massive growth (fielding a larger industrial base than industrialised nations such as the United Kingdom and France) there was much room for improvement and further growth, optimistic economists predicted that the planned economy of the USSR would overtake USA in the 50s or 60s and then "all will learn the marvels of socialism firsthand". Still the majority of the growth benefited the military, and the average worker didn't enjoy the reaps of this rapid industralization. Still it held a major potential to be transformed to a civilian economy.
Since the onset of the war the majority of new factories and industralization was focused around the Ural mountains and east of the Urals and the Volga river. The coasts in the west had also been used to develop new dockyards and other factories to build parts to the expanding Soviet Navy. After the Red Army occupied most of Europe the focus of the Soviet planned economy was to repair the damaged industries first in the Soviet Union and then occupied Europe. This endeavour was ended in record time baffling the planners of the USSR. The focus would now to finish up the naval expansion plants and the plants east of the Urals, and then to focus on building up the economy in European Russia, Ukraine and Belarus - with the newly acquired territories in Poland holding a massive potential for economic development.
These new factories was put into good use. They would upgrade and reinforce the Red Army, the Air Force and the Red Fleet. For the Red Fleet the Arkhangelsk Class (Project-21) and Sovetsky Soyuz Class battleships took the most resources to produce, where the latter outmatched even the heaviest of American, British and Japanese battleships. The losses the Red Fleets had substained was then planned to be replaced before the fleets was modernized.
The materials for the army and air forces was also well underway, yet there was major deficits in certain areas. Obsolete equipment (such as the BT-7, SVT/38 and SVT/40) was produced as they were cheaper and the plan was for full reinforcements before these lines would be converted into upgrades, or until better technology came around.
The Soviet supply situation had improved - somewhat. There was still a massive deficit with small arms and light tanks, but it was hoped the planned dominance of medium tanks would reduce the dependance on light tanks, and most Soviet soldiers were used to going to the front without a weapon, waiting for one to become avaible.. The US had several times pushed for the Soviet Union to accept Lend Lease offers. The official reason was that the Soviet Union didn't want to become indebted to a capitalist power, however the real reason was that they didn't have the around 1000 convoys the lend lease required, but instead only 242.
The massive increase in Soviet armament industry had in 1942 made the USSR rely on oil, steel and tungsten imports for the first time since the Civil Wars. However the vast lands that was rich in minerals and oils also made it so that the USSR exported great amounts of oil, aluminium, tungsten, even some rubber, stell and chromium which benefitted the Soviet economy.
The Red Army was a major one consisting of over 200 divisions. The majority was still infantry divisions, but it fielded an impressive amount of 53 armored units (various armored brigades, motorised divisions and mechanized corps). When the arms industry picked up it was hoped that several new paratrooper and mountaineer divisions would be established, along with entire new armies worth of motorised rifle divisions, rifle divisions and armored formations.
The Soviet airforce was quite impressive, focusing greatly on short range fighters taking control of the skies with dive bombers and medium bombers providing air support to ground units, and medium and heavy bombers provding strategic bombing. The Soviet Air Force also fielded many naval bombers who protected Soviet waters from naval incursions. It was planned for the Soviet Union to introduce heavy fighters/light bombers soon to escort bombers, intercept bombers and conduct long range aerial supremacy missions.
The Soviet Red Fleets bleaked in comparison to the western naval powers. However it consisted of several modern battleships (one being the dreaded Sovetsky Soyuz Class "super" battleship) and cruisers, but the impressive submarine fleet had suffered towering casualties, and the many lost submarines and destroyers had to be replaced. The Kriegsmarine and Imperial Japanese Navy had sunk 38 submarines and 10 destroyers over the course of the war. These numbers needed to be replenished if the USSR ever hoped to defend their waters against the US and Royal Navies.
The common soldier of the Soviet Union was outfitted with fairly modern weapons and equipment, and plans was made to modernize anti-tank weapons and develop new standard issued rifles, sub-machine guns and light-machine guns.
The signal, recon, medical, MP and engineer units of the Red Army had fairly outdated equipment and doctrines tracing its origins back to 1936 and the Red Army wanted to gain new support equipment and docrines they had requested since 1939 and even new equipment requested in 1942 ((currently the techs are 1936, the next ones are 1939 and 1942)), but it was uncertain if these demands would be met. There was, however, no plans to include supply and mechanical units to the Red Army as of now.
The Soviet artillery was also fairly outdated. The reason why the 25 mm AA, 45 mm AT and 152 mm howitzers hadn't been introduced to production lines was the fact the Soviet industry struggled enough with leeping up the production of their current howitzers, AA and AT guns. The Red Army also asked for the diversity program to develop the M-8-6 rocket launcher system and further develop their rocket launcher capabilities. Mostly to improve the infamous Trotsky Orgels, but also to give non-motorised and non-armored infantry a dedicated rocket launcher system of their own.
The armored formations of the Red Army was quite modern, taking the German Panzerwaffen by surprise. Still they lacked behind in terms of tank destroyers/assault guns, self-propelled (SP) artillery and SP AA guns. It was also looked into possibilities to create medium and heavy tank destroyers and SP guns based upon the T-34 and KV-1 chassis'.
The Soviet doctrine of Deep Battle was fully developed on the theoretical part, much thanks to the relentless work of Tukhachevsky. It was currently a power struggle between the Soviet Union if the funds allocated to the development of Deep Battle should be allocated to the rocket industry, theoretical air doctrines or nuclear development. ((If the next theorist should be the rocket theorist, air theorist or nuclear theorist)).
The Soviet CAS and fighters was fairly modern, and while they developed heavy fighters the tactical, naval and strategic bombers needed an upgrade in the near future.
The Soviet Air Force relied upon the doctrine of Battlefield Support. But despite their practical knowledge on the matter they lagged behind on the theoretical plane as most of the efforts had been given to developing land doctrines. As Tukhachevsky said "at the end of the day, it is the land forces that win the war".
If the Red Fleets was to be modernized many new designs had to be created for their Submarines, destroyers, cruisers and battleships. The fact that the Red Fleets didn't have any plans for a carriers was concerning looking on the recent developments in the Pacific. But what was perhaps the most pressing was to create new means of supporting naval invasions. The campaign in Italy had proven the Soviet lack of experience and capabilities in this area, only being able to ship 10 divisions at a time, needing 70 days to prepare the jump. The navy needed new toys if they were ever to invade Japan and wage war against the Allies.
The Soviet Naval Commanders was in contrast to their Army counterparts quite conservative focusing on the fleet in being doctrine. However new voices aired the opinion that the Soviet Union didn't have enough battleships to focus on this, and should instead develop doctrines for commerce raiding as the Germans did, or follow the example of Japan and USA in the Pacific seeing the impressive results.
But the USSR had focused greatly on its industry and here they had state of the art technology. By 1943 blueprints was made by the many soviets and the commisariats to create more effective methods of production and machines.
The electronical Soviet industry was also quite advanced, much thanks to the Leningrad Company. Computing and decryption and encryption was advanced and given great resources so that they could always be one step ahead of their enemies. Radars, however, hadn't been properly developed. But it was planned to create advanced radars that could hopefully cover all of the waters into Soviet waters and lands and even into the UK and USA. Soviet nuclear technology wasn't as advanced as the USA, but it had gotten a lot more attention following the research cities experiments. Rockets was also looked into by the diversity program, and currently it was a powerstruggle between the Army and Air Force if the program should use their funds to develop artillery focused rockets for the Army or develop rocket engines and jet engines for the air force...
Such was the State of the Union in 1943, it had much potential as it were far ahead in many areas, but lacked behind in others. Hopefully, for the USSR, it would be able to modernize itself and produce the required amounts of small arms and ships for the war against Japan and a potential war against the Allies...
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So here was the fairly boring (I suppose) update, but it was meant to give you an understanding of the current in-game situation and future plans for research etc.
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