Long Live the Permament Revolution! - a Trotskyist Soviet AAR.

[ThaHoward]

Greetings comrades and enemies of the revolution! I have been thinking of making another AAR for a while, and have flirted with a few ideas. First I wanted to make a Austria-Hungary one, but I quickly lost interest. Then I flirted with the idea of a West-German NWO one, but I found the mod somewhat lacking. Now I wanted to make a German AAR with the Kaiser reinstated, and then I got another idea. What about the USSR? The story of USSR is fascinating and I will take it as a learning experience to weave this story of some sort of re-enactment of Leninist USSR, especially as from my observertations Trotskyism, whatever that is, is a pecurious -ism in communist and radical socialist circles. Some see it as reviosionism, others see it is as democratic socialism and others again just an extension of the terror of Lenin and Stalin. But I digress, we'll see how this AAR develop and if Trotsky would be any better than Stalin or worse - or rather what I decide and how the game play out

Now I will lay out a few things, goals, rules etc.

Goals:

-Let Trotsky take power.
-Spread communism to as large parts of Europe as possible, however I won't be doing this as Stalin. For example when Trotsky assume power I might be influencing Romania to make them commie, but I won't do it as Stalin.
-Make France, UK or USA communist. France can be made commie through ideological boosting, but UK (and her Dominions and Puppets) and USA can only be made commie through war.
-Win WW2? And if so, puppet Germany.

Other things: I will play it on alternative history, as if I let Trotsky assume power then the AI should be able to do some shit too. Hopefully one of the other nations will embrace the glorious enligtenment of socialism!

Other than that welcome and I hope you will all enjoy it. And don't let this be a shitstorm over ideology (but if you are knowledgeble about this topic, please don't hesitate to post stuff here or PM me), it is just for fun and I hope you too will have fun to see what happen! And to just make it clear, I have never played as USSR before, so we will see what happen and how I can fare against Hitler and his buds after I recover from a civil war, and perhaps I will even launch the Great Purge just before Trotsky return to make it even more difficult?

Time will tell, will Trotsky (really me) truly make the USSR a socialist state and usher the world into a new era, will it be forgotten under the boots of the Fascist warmachine or will it just be another Stalinist era under a different label? Only time will tell, and I hope you all will join me in finding it out!

Table of Contents:

Inter-War Era:

Stalinist Era:
-Prologue: Workers of the world, unite!
-Introduction: The Devil is a good Communist.
-Chapter 1: Govern Humanely.

Spanish Civil War:

-The Spanish Civil War: Further Beyond.
-The Spanish Civil War: Madrid shall be Fascism's grave.
-The Spanish Civil War: Workers, to Victory!

Beginning of the end of Stalin:

-Chapter 2: Abolish the Cult of the Individual.
-The Border War.
-Chapter 3: The Gravedigger of the Revolution.

Trotskyist Revolution/Civil War:

-Chapter 4: Communism needs Democracy, like the Human Body needs Oxygen.
-Trotskyist OOB.
-Chapter 5: The Second Russian Civil War.
-Chapter 6: The End may Justify the Means, as long as there something that Justifies the End.
-Chapter 7: I like my Beer cold, my Coffee hot, my Revolution - Permament.

Trotskyist pre-Great Patriotic War time:

-Chapter 8: The Revolutionary Fires will reach the entire Continent.
-Chapter 9: 1871 all over again.
-Chapter 10: If you cannot convince a Fascist, acquaint his head with the Pavement.

World War Two:

Great Patriotic War:

-Chapter 11: Operation Icebreaker.
-Chapter 12: You only have to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down.
-Chapter 13: Liberators, not Conquerers..
-Chapter 14: The German army is a machine - machines can be broken.
-Chapter 15: Götterdämmerung.
-Chapter 16: When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck to crush him.
-Chapter 17: A new year, a new hope.
-Chapter 18: Heil dir im Siegerkranz.
-Chapter 19: A game of dominos.
-Chapter 20: Eastern Migration.


First Wave Communist Revolutions:

-Vive la révolution! (France).
-To Arms! To Arms! (Hungary).
-You cannot make a revolution in white gloves (Finland).
-La Muette de Portici (Belgium).
-För brödrafolkens väl (Sweden).

Eastern Storm:

-Chapter 21: Victory in the West. Disaster in the East.
-Chapter 22: The fiercest Serpent may be overcome by a Swarm of Ants.
-State of the World War.
-State of the Union.
-Chapter 23: Sleeping Giants.
-Chapter 24: Downfall.
-Chapter 25: Island Hopping.
-Chapter 26: Waking the Bear.
-Chapter 27: August Storm.
-Chapter 28: Ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation.

The Cold War:

Post War Situation:

-Post-War World: Lenin zeigt an!
-Post-War World: Truth Prevails.
-Post-War World: Befreiung.
-Post War World: Never failing Powderkeg.
-Post War: Red Retribution.
-Post War: Domesticating the Tiger.

Cold War:

-Chapter 29: Eastern Betrayal.
-Chapter 30: Paris Peace Treaties.
-Chapter 31: After Hitler.
-First Congress of the Internationale.
-Chapter 32: Southern Thrust.
-Chapter 33: The Great Gambit.
-Chapter 34: Countenance.
-Chapter 35: Desert Storm.
-Chapter 36: Crisis.
-Chapter 37: Euthanize the Sick Man.
-Second Congress of the Internationale.
-Chapter 38: Boiling Point.
-Chapter 39: A Red Threat to International Peace
-Chapter 40: Endgame.

Second Wave Communist Revolutions:

-Poland is not yet lost (Poland, obviously).
-Norway, in red, red and red (obviously again, Norway).
-Dear Bulgaria, Land of Heroes.
-Anarchism or Synarchism.

World War Three:

Zapad:

-Operation: Zapad.
-Chapter 41: The cliffs of England stand.
-Chapter 42: Seven Days to the River Thames.
-Chapter 43: Orange Revolution.
-Chapter 44: Plywood Cross.
-Chapter 45: Fortress Copenhagen.
-Chapter 46: If you wish for peace, prepare for war.
-Chapter 47: Through Adversity.
-Chapter 48: Proletarian Shield.
-Chapter 49: Grave of Democracy.
-Chapter 50: The Ruby Island.
-Chapter 51: God Save the King..
-Chapter 52: Island Hopping vol.2.
-Chapter 53: Red March.
-Chapter 54: Red Ocean.
-Chapter 55: Enforced Decolonization.
-Chapter 56: Defeat of Atlas.
-Chapter 57: Freegypt.
-Chapter 58: O, God of Our Land.
-Chapter 59: The Forgotten War.
-Chapter 60: The Great Game.
-Chapter 61: Seven Months to Lake Tanganyika
-Chapter 62: Age of Cobalt

-Interlude I: Red Continent.
-Interlude II: Continent of Revolutions.
-Interlude III: Commonwealth of Workers
-Interlude IV: For the protection of the workers and peasants.
-Interlude V: Disunion in Diversity
-Interlude VI: Liberty Enlightening the World
-Interlude VII: Dragons and Knights
-Interlude VIII: Workers of the World, United

Red Dawn:

-Chapter 63: Vostok!
-Chapter 64: Hail Mary.

 

[ThaHoward]

Prologue: Workers of the world, unite!

The October Revolution.

Lenin seen prancing around in Stockholm with his umbrella moments before returning to Russia. Closely followed by the Social-Democrat mayor and the press.

The October revolution was the culmination of the Russian Revolution taking place from the 7th to the 8th of November 1917, or the 25th to the 26th of October according to the Julian calender, where the Bolsheviks under Lenin pulled of a coup and stripped the Provisional Government of its powers, making peace in the Great War at the cost of plunging Russia into a bloody and long civil war.

The events leading up to this coup, or revolution as the Soviets named it, are many, too many to each one of them being giving a detailed examiniation and explenation. Russian society had since the revolution of 1905, where Lenin had participated from his exile, had become a hotbed of various radical ideologies. Democrats, liberals, anarchists, but perhaps most important the Socialists and Communists. In short the dominant socialist party of the time was the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party who were followers of Marxism. The Party itself was split between two factions the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. Lenin proclaimed his faction as the majority faction, while in fact his faction was in the miniority. Meanwhile the Mensheviks, meaning the miniority, was in the majority and was led by Julius Martov. Trotsky was also at the time a Menshevik.

The reason for the split between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks were quite minor, but soon it evolved to greater ideological and practical differences. Most notably for Lenin's advocacy of seizure of power and unwillingness to cooperate with the Socialist Revolutionary Party and moderate democrats. Because of this hardline Trotsky decided to move on to the Bolsheviks and became a close ally of Lenin in 1904. However the revolution did not end in the favor for the Bolsheviks and the Tsar made only a few concessions to the revolutionaries, but the split in the Russian Socialist Labour Party was appereant, and the stage was set for a full fledged revolution.

The borgouise Vanguard of the Proletariat.

And the revolution happened in February 1917. Democrats, soldiers, women, Socialist Revolutionaries (the party), Mensheviks and Bolsheviks participated, side by side. Yet divided. But the greatest divide was when the Mensheviks decided to support the White Army and the provisional government. Many argued Russia was not ready for a revolution, according to the theory of stagism. Without dwelling too far into it, basically a society need to first develop from a feudalistic one (as Russia) to a borgouise-democracy (such as France) and then the workers rise up against the now capitalist society and create a socialist society. Lenin, however, with the ideological support of men such as Trotsky advocated that a socialist revolution was possible in a feudalistic society and that the workers could unite with the peasants (or petite borgouise according to Marx and Engels) to establish a socialist society.

In short Lenin returned to Russia, but few of the time had heard of him. Who were he? An elusive leader who had been living outside of Russia since 1900. But an unlikely alliance emerged. The Germans was pressed on all fronts and saw a chance to end the war and focus all their efforts on the western front. Great amounts of funds were given to the Bolsheviks to further their goals and propaganda in Russia, and with clandenstine negotiations with Swiss middlemen Lenin and his followers were able to return to Russia (almost being stopped in the then Russian Finland by a British agent, but he was let lose to uphold democratic values) to further destabilize Russia and to make peace with the central powers. And Lenin and his followers took power in the Ocotober Revolution, brokered peace with the Germans and started the Russian Civil War. The rest is history.

The flag drained in the blood of the revolution, with the hammer and scicle united.


Enemy of the imperialists and borgouise: Joseph Stalin.

With some photoshopping quite a handsome fella, in his younger years*.

Following Lenin's death Stalin rose from the shadows. A man who had initially been nothing but a grey mouse, anonomous and uninteresting rose to prominence and ruthlessly deposed of all who were in his way - including Trotsky. Ironically many of the Bolshevik revolutionaires were intellectuals and came from middle class families and even lower nobility. Examples of this was Lenin himself and Trotsky. Stalin can not be said to be of such heritage, but rather the son of a shoemaker and cleaning lady. In fact he was the only leading communist pioneer. However his mother managed to secure the future despot a place in then a presitiogous religious school. But the school system was harsh and ruthless and Stalin came into contact with radical societies. Without diving too deep into his childhood, it is speculated that what he fell victim to in the hands of the strict priest regime, is methods he used during his purges.

Inititally during the Russian Revolution Stalin was a proponent of cooperation with the provisional government, but when Lenin returned and implemented his hardline against all who defied him (those who wanted to cooperate were labeled as traitors) Stalin supported Lenin's line. Stalin had in fact little to do with the October Revolution which was mostly the work of Trotsky. Stalin remained a grey mice until Lenin's death, consolidating his power. First he was given the position of minister in the new Soviet government, before he became a commander of the Red Army under Trotsky, serving in the civil war mostly in the Caucasus, which he soon conquered for the Red Army an finally in 1921 his homeland Georgia was conquered with the aid of his comrade Sergo Ordzjonkidize.

The Troika of Lev Kamenev, Joseph Stalin and Grigory Zinoviev.

By the end of the Russian Civil War Stalin was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party (the Bolsheviks changed name to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, or Communist Party in short in 1918), by then the position was seen generally as not a prestigious nor powerful one, and Stalin was elected mainly due to his organizational skills, and even Lenin warned against Stalin calling him powerhungry and too rough (but these statements magically disapperead after Stalin came to power, and transformed itself to condemnation of Trotsky instead). Still he was elected and when Lenin was due to health issues, which had haunted him for all of his life, were no longer capable of leading the Soviet Union and he remained virtually powerless until his death in 1924. Stalin and his triumvirate, also called the Troika, saw this as an oppurtunity to extend their power.

This Troika had infact existed since 1917 and consisted of Stalin himself, Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev. The Troika agreed upon most things since 1917 and were close friends, but what really brought them together was their opposition to Trotsky. While Trotsky and the rest of the Communist Party squabbled over who was to lead the Party, and in turn the Union, the Troika emerged from the shadows, and soon they held the Trotskyists away from positions of real power. Kamenev led the central committees meetings, Zinoviev's main contribution was his gift as an orator and Stalin carefully created his power apparatus. As General Secretary it was his job to elect functionaries to central and local positions.

Two good friends in 1919.

Stalin continued to elegantly dance around in the party apparatus, before his death Lenin advised his party to remove Stalin who had gathered too much power at his hands, and removed those who opposed him from power. When the Troika had fulfilled their goals Stalin betrayed them and set them up against eachother and allied with the Right wing of the Party (still communists) and Bukharin to get rid of the Left of the Party, and the two former allies of Stalin was purged from the Party in 1926. And when he stripped the Left of the Party of all power he assumed many of their lines, and even appropriated some of Trotsky's thoughts, all to weaken the Right and Bukharin. When Bukharin was removed from power, Stalin assumed his ideology of Socialism in One Country. From 1927, and the exile of Trotsky, Stalin had united all power to his person and he was in all but name the sole ruler of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Trotsky, heir appereant of Lenin.

Comrade Trotsky is watching you!

Leon Trotsky, or Lev Trotskkij, born as Lev Davidovich Bronstein had all the good stuff coming to him. He was seen as the heir to Lenin. He was a highly respected theorist, aiding Lenin in his justification for a socialist revolution, and making countless of contributions to marxist thoughts. The architect behing the October Revolution, founder and leader of the infamous Red Army, the people's commissar during the war and one of the founder of the mighty politburo. Trotsky, initially a member of the Mensheviks became perhaps the greatest ally of Lenin and after the death of Vladimir Lenin he was at the apex of his power. But he would learn one crucial lesson: The higher they rise, the harder they fall.

Trotsky was introduced to Marxism in 1896, and since political freedom wasn't that big during the time he was arrested in 1898 and in 1900 sent to a four year exile in Siberia. But for whatever reason he didn't like Siberia, so he fled and joined forces with Lenin in London. However during the Party Congress in London during the summer of 1903 Trotsky and Lenin split, albeit shortly, when Lenin founded the Bolsheviks but Trotsky supported the Mensheviks. Despite the short split, this would forever cause division between the two leaders of the revolution.

The bloody sunday.

In 1905 Trotsky returned to mother Russia and joined the Soviet of St. Peterburg. But Trotsky was a man of the revolution, and one of action. He soon found himself in the midst of the general strikes which culminated in the Bloody Sunday. It didn't do much to help Trotsky's case that he supported the armed insurrection that followed, and as such he was given a life sentence of exile in Siberia, but Trotsky again escaped and found his way to London. Following this he wrote several papers named Pravda, not to be confused with the official one, and smuggled it to Russia. What followed was that he traveled around to Switzerland, France, got thrown out of France and then visited the US. There he heard rumors of the revolutio and was quick to get back to Russia to participate in the revolution. And so he did. Once he returned he became an official member of the Bolsheviks and even managed to become the leader of the revolutionary military committee which planned and executed the coup during the October Revolution.

Trotsky thinking about revolutions and other things that excited him.

After the successful coup Trotsky was appointed the People's Commisar of Foreign Affairs and negotiated the Brest-Litovisk treaty, the German gambit had payed off. He resigned as foreign minister following this treaty, and soon became the People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs. There he founded and led the Red Army to victory against the White Army. His personal abilities, as a tactician and demagogue were likely key components of the Red Army's victory, but for all his successes he was humiliated by the newly formed Polish nation. Initially the Russian, Ukranian and Byelorussian made gains against the Poles, and in Moscow Lenin and his compratriots celebrated as the revolution spread beyond their borders (and to reclaim signifant territories), but the Red Army and Trotsky was stopped during the decisive defeat in the Battle of Warsaw.

But it was following the worsening health, and eventual death, of Lenin that ousted the golden boy from power. His last real chance to remove Stalin and the Troika from power was to adress the testament written by Lenin himslef. In this testament he wrote that Stalin should be removed from power. The twelfth party congress of 1923 gave Trotsky the oppurtinity to use the testament as munitions against the Troika. But he remained silent and let his last chance slip away from his fingers as he watched Stalin consolidate power around himself. The reason? In the very same testament Lenin had critical remarks on Trotsky's exaggerted self-esteem and feeling of self-importance, and his love for purely administrative endeavours. Despite having lost to Stalin, Trotsky created the Left Opposition, and within this fought against Stalin over the next years and developed his own theory of "Permament Revolution", not to be confused with the one made by Marx and Engels, which were in sharp contrast to Stalin's "Socialism in One Country". In the end this ideological dispute led to Stalin's purges and Trotsky was exiled to Kazakstan in 1928, before he in 1929 was exiled from the Soviet Union alltogether and settled down in Norway. His life work, the first Socilist State in the world, had been lost to him and he was forced to live in humiliation.

The Permament Revolution - an attempt of explenation.

Another version of the four heads: Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky.

The far left is opposed to capitalism, reactionaries and imperialism. But there is one thing they are even more opposed to: themself. The theory of the Permament Revolution is one part a method created by Trotsky to give ideological ground for how nations such as Russia can transform into a Socialist society, and to oppose Stalin and his Socialism in One Country thesis. The dominant theory among Marxists, and the Social Democratic Party, was that socialism couldn't be achieved in Feudalistic societies such as Russia, but instead Russia needed to first experience a borgouise-democratic revolution, reach a level of advanced capitalism and then the workers would unite and overthrow the borgouise who exploited the workers. "History do not repeat itself" he said, and by that he meant they couldn't look to the French and English revolutions as Marx and Engels did. The conditions of France and England was seperate, and the borgouise of Russia wouldn't be able to create the necessary political and land reforms to improve the conditions of the citizens and the economy. Furthermore the workers who had united with the peasants, nd le by the Vanguard Party, couldn't simply stop their revolution. As the hostile borgouise and imperialist powers would seek to end the socialist experiment, so the revolution needed to be Permament. It couldn't be confined to one single country, as it wouldn't be able to hold on its own against the foreign powers. This somewhat muddled theory became after Lenin's death the centerpiece of the Left Opposition as they needed theoretical ground to hold against Stalin and Bukharin who wanted Socialism in One Country.

Leader of the Right Opposition and betrayer of the Permament Revolution, Nikolai Bukharin.

Bukharin seem to be a nice guy.

The other golden boy beside Trotsky, and major theorist alongside Lenin and Trosky was Nikolai Bukharin - or the "party's favorite" as Lenin called him. Like most top members of the Bolsheviks he had too been arrested for revolutionary activities and had in 1911 been exiled to Siberia, and like his rival Trotsky he didn't like the weather of Siberia much and fled. He proved to be a shooting star in the international socialist arena and became a leading figure in the Comitern, which he ironically had first opposed, and the initial years following the October Revolution he was given the responsibility of the Party's propaganda and schooling works. It was here he wrote the books that would make him fmous the ABC of Communism (which again borrowed many ideas from Trotsky's Permament Revolution) and Dialectal Materialism. Bukharin was seen as just a logical heir to Lenin as Stalin and Trotsky at the time, and he formed the Right Opposition. But he allied himself with Stalin and the Troika to chastitise Trotsky, and when they had dealth with Trotsky, Bukharin and Stalin turned against the Troika. But Bukharin would soon fall from power too, and would be stripped of all functions. Bukharin was purged from the party along with Trotsky, and Stalin appropriated several ideas from Trotsky and Bukharin alike and was now the sole and undisputed leader of the party.

Socialism in One Country - pretty self explanatory.

In Mother Russia.

Socialism in One Country is a theory that look upon the events that took place in Europe following the Great War and until 1923. As according to Marx and Engels many nations experienced communist uprisings and the creation of several socialist states, such as the shortlived republics of Bavaria, Hungary etc. But as Marx and Engels predicted all of the world would rise up, only a few nations did so. And the revolutions would be quickly put down and in addition it happened in the power vaccuum formed by the fall of empires. The Soviet Union should instead of facing outward, turn inward. Socialism should not longer be formed globally, but according to Stalin and Bukharin it should start in one country, before they spread out the global revolution. But still there were members in the USSR who were opposed to Stalin and supported Trotsky and a more globally orientated Soviet Union remained, but Stalin felt confident his purges was a success and that he could now move away from consolidating his powers and industrialise the vast lands of the USSR. The world were by his feet, and it seemed as if nothing could stop him.

Stalin, the Father of the Nation having secured his power against the Revisionists and fifth columnists.

-----
*Stalin actually had smallpox at an early age. This anda generally harsh life made him full of scares the rest of his life. All pictures of him were edited to take away said scars and make him appear better.

 

[ThaHoward]

Introduction: The Devil is a good Communist.

State of the Union.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic - both called simply "Soviet Russia".

Soviet society had underwent sweeping changes when the new year's fireworks stilled (and fireworks of war still seemed distant) the first of January 1936. In mere decades Russia and the other soviet republics of the USSR had gone from agrarian societies following a feudal system of old into an age of forced industrialization. The Red Army had been expanded, yet the army and navy were largeley composed of logistical issues and outdated equipment. Most of the lost territory of the former Russian Empire was reclaimed, but the Soviets clamoured for the return of their territories in the Baltic, Poland and Finland. Meanwhile the increasingly Japanese Empire wanted to annex the north of Sakhalin. While the revolutionary state might at first glance look impressive, it was deeply troubled. The major powers of the world hardly recognized the Soviets as a great power, judging them by their performance in the Great War. In their eyes the vast Eurasian country was nothing but a backward nation taken over by demagogues and riddled by incompetence. And perhaps they were right. The Soviet Union itself suffered greatly from a corrupt bureaucracy and many purges in society, the party and the military. And the critics withing the USSR were just as harsh. They argued, motivated by Trotsky's writings and speeches in exile, that the socialist experiment had turned into a bureacratic dictatorship, and that the rapid industrialization were capitalism light and brough much injustice and suffering to the peasantry - an ironic remark as Trotsky himself had advocated for the Stalinist industrialization before Stalin appropriated the ideas for himself. The time had just turned to the first day of '36, a new chapter in the annals of mankind was coming to a dawn and this was the state of the Soviet Union.

Five-years plan: Industrialization, collectivization and modernination.

There is no thing as being too successful!

The Five Years Plan was in many ways a result of a desire to turn the Union into a modern society, an industrial superpower. However it was also the result of the rivarly between Stalin in Trotsky. Initially Stalin had supported Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) along with the Right and Bukharin. This was as they were in opposition to Trotsky's vision that the Union had to undergo a forced and rapid industrialization. Stalin used this oppurtinity to get rid of Trotsky and his supporters - along with many other factors. But following the exile of Trotsky, Stalin turned on the Right and the NEP and announced they would now undergo an economic policy of central planning. A planning that would be organised into Five Year Plans. The argument was that the NEP would bring about capitalism to the Union, and one could only become a true socialist state through the devolpment of heavy industries and collectivization. Once Trotsky was gotten rid of Stalin used his arguments against his former supporters.

The results of the First Five Year Plan was many and felt profoundly through the Soviet society. Industrial output had been greatly increased. As examples the production of pig iron 3.3 million tons each year to 6.2 million tons. Coal production 35.4 million tons to 64 million. Furthermore many new factories had been constructed or were under construction, creating many new jobs. By 1923 6.4 million jobs were created per annum. In the agricultural sector Lenin had accepted private ownership, but Stalin and his planners wanted to bring about a collectivization. In 1929 they accelerated the process to include collectivization by force. In 1936 about 90% of the agriculture had been collectivized.

In the workers paradise everyone have to work.

Still the changes was not without its downsides. By first glance, and especially according to Soviet and international-communist propaganda, it was a tremendous success and a workers paradise was in the making. Unfortunately the living conditions of the workers didn't rise, but instead fell during the regime of Stalin. Working regulations were tightened, many of the more liberal policies of Lenin was reverted while his terror regime was expanded drastically. The working day was now expanded to 16-18 hour days, instead of the promised reduction to 8 hours. And many among the peasantry saw the regime as their enemy rather than their benefactor. It didn't help much that the collectivization culminated in a disastrous famine in 1932 and 1933. It was in these conditions that anti-Stalinist sentiments grew. As the anti-Stalinist sentiments grew so did the pro-Trotskyist. Trotsky managed to hold some sort of false purity as his rule had never been tried out in practice, while the ones of Stalin had. The great irony was that the industrialization of Stalin was in many ways the brainchild of Trotsky, but as Stalin adapted to new situations so did Trotsky. Trotsky promised for a more liberal and humane approach to Socialism, appealing to western intellectuals and dissatisfied soviets alike.

The flawless construction plan.

As one can't deny the many negative sides of the first five year plan, so can't one deny its successes. And Stalin intended to continue his success in the Second Five Year Plan. The second one started in 1932, while it officially started in 1933, and greatly expanded Soviet communication lines and put them just behind Germany in steel production. Many new projects was given the green light on new year's eve of '36, and especially the Moscow region and the bordering regions ws given priority. The communication lines was going to greatly expanded in this region in tandem with an expansion of the civilian and military industries. Research in 1936 was also going to prioritize the development of electronic engineering, construction and machine tools. Initially Stalin felt as if his prior purges was not enough and wanted to increase its quality and quantity to purify the state so that it would not fall to Trotskyist and capitalists - or simpler put to not let Stalin lose his power. In the end, however, he was convinced by a close advisor that resources should not be put into a great purge. That this would only fuel the anti-Stalinist purges and that they should instead look toward finishing the second five year plan and make the USSR a true superpower, initially the communication lines in the regions of Kurks, Crimea and Minsk were to be improved. The advisor was one of the few who dared to question Stalin and come out of it alive. Stalin would on new years eve of 1936 hold a speech where he announced "Trotsky and his capitalist lackeys have been purged, it is now time for the workers to unite. To create a true socialist society".

Red Army; the Red Horde of workers.

The divisions and their composition.

The Red Army was the creation of Trotsky and had been led by him during the Russian Civil War. At first their task was to combat the White Army, but soon it became the sole Army of the Soviet Union. And in the years following the Civil War, and especially after Stalin were crowned Tsar made Leader of the USSR, the Red Army had underwent many reforms to make them an arm of the Communist Party. Other reforms was made aswell, especially the lacks seen in Trotsky's disatrous invasion of Poland. In the 1930s Marshal Tukhachevsky developed the deep operations doctrine. It was quite modern for its time, envisioning the use of simultaneous parallel attacks and combined aviation and armored doctrines to achieve maneuver warfare. Where the Soviets had developed such doctrines theoretical, it was their arch-enemy who would be remembered as the father of such doctrines - through sheer desperation and tactical innovations. In 1936 the Red Army had been massively reduced from the 1.6 million army in 1922 to around 500.000. On top of that many of the forces was NKVD divisions, meant for political correctness in the divisions. But many were innovative as the many armored divisions and the sole motorized brigade. Meanwhile other were innovations were being tested such as the use of paratroopers.

Stalin distrusted the Red Army in 1936, his paranoia was exploited by many generals who had petty rivarlies and blamed eachother for Trotskyism. However Stalin was persuaded away from committing a great purge in favor of economical reforms, and it was argued that his massive plans for expansion of the Red Army would do nothing but hurt said Army if most of the experienced officers were to be purged. One of them would have been Tukhachevsky.

Here the Red Army are stationed. Mostly exercising. One can never have too many pushups.


Red Army Air Forces, a dormant titan.

A messy collage of the soviet airforce.

By the early 1930s the Soviet Air Force, or the Directorate of the Workers-Peasants Red Army Air Forces which was its actual name, was an air force in the making. It was mostly mimicking the organization of land armies, but the Soviet industry had managed to produce several domestic airplanes and was increasing their air fleet. They were mostly composed of short range fighters and long range bombers. It may have looked as the Air Force would have been neglected and scrapped as Stalin's paranoia increased. The father of the airforce General Yakov Alksnis was a potential fifth columnist, but he was spared.

The Red Fleet.

Another collage.

The Soviet Navy, or the official name Workers' and Peasants' Red Fleet, was in a sorry state when the Bolsheviks came to power. It was composed of mostly derelict ships and many were indeed scrapped and instead their batteries was used for coastal batteries. Still the Union had grand plans. The Red Fleet was to be one of the greatest fleets of the world and in 1926 the first plans was made so that 133 submarines were to be build. In retroperspective this is a sound investment, however as the Great War showed navies are a sign of national strength and pride. Submarines were seen as the poor man's navy - those who could not challenge the major surface fleets of nations such as Britain or Germany. The sorry state of the Soviet Navy was proven in the international community as they weren't a part of the many naval treaties signed, signed to prevent another naval race.

The Third Communist International, the final international (?).

The nation of Tannu What and the remnants of a once glorious empire.

The Third International was the last of the internationals. Its purpose was world revolution and "by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and for the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the State". Following the formation of the Soviet Union and Lenin's prestige, the USSR emerged as the de-facto leader of the Third International, or the Comitern as it was also called. However the real-politics of Stalin soon emerged. When he took the theory of Socialism in One Country to heart, and soon the Comitern was no longer an organization of socialist solidarity and armed world revolution, but rather a tool by Stalin. The Left Opposition and Trotskyist would make conspiracy theories to proclaim that Stalin actively hindered a world revolution by being a tyrant of the Comitern who didn't want any other nation to experience a revolution who could challenge the Soviet Union. The Comitern had in many ways been transformed into an alliance where the Communist Party of the Soviet Union directed all other communist parties, and where the People's Republics of Tannu Tuva and Mongolia was recognized as de-facto satellite states of the USSR by the international community.

China, the home of the peasant's revolutions.

Such a rump state can surely never make it into history...

China was deeply riddled by threats externally, Japan, and internally. The government of Chiang Kai-shek had difficulties ruling the vast area and populace and many local warlords ruled. One of them was Mao Zedong. He had been influenced Marxism and Lenin and was perhaps the least Orthodox of the Marxists. This led to many of the Third International shunning him and seeing China as immature of a socialist revolution as being an agrarian society. Mao on the other hand argued for the liberation of the peasants, as Lenin did, and from imperalism, as Lenin did too. But as of now the Red Army of China was severly weakened after they had undertook a series of retreats in the Long March to the isolated location of Shanxi.

Comrde Sheng Shicai have made Sinkiang a virtual Soviet puppet state...

Another communist Chinese Warlord was Sheng Shicai of Sinkiang (Xinjiang) a largely muslim part of China with great sentiments of seperatism. The Soviet Union had extended great deal of a influence over the bordering communist realm. Where Mao's Red Army might have been seen as nothing but a buffer to Nationalist China, Sinkiang had to seek advise and consent from the Soviet Union on internal matters and along with Mongolia was the Soviet Union's real foothold in China.

The road ahead, hindered by fascism in east and west.

1936 was a year where Fascism rose in the west and east, with increasingly aggressive Germany and Japan. Russia was especially afraid to lost North Sakhalin, and there was no secret that Germany and its leadership wanted to get rid of the Soviet Union alltogether. The same may be said about the liberal democracies who viewed the Soviet Union as a major threat to their way of life. The Soviet Union had underwent many changes, but if it were to continue its experiment it had to modernise and thar fast. Their economy had been strengthened and so had the military. But they still had a long road ahead. And in Norway a former Soviet revolutionary flirted with western intellectuals selling himself as a liberal-communist and by making connections in the Left Opposition in the Communist Party... History was about to be written.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 1: Govern humanely.

Stalin impressing the world.

Following the effort to improve the railway network in Crimea, Kursk and Minsk, Stalin and the Politburo decided to counter the increasing opposition from the Left. The Left stepped up their rethorics and critics of the regime, especially the worsening conditions of the workers under the rapid industrialization, and Stalin's instincts told him to root out the weed to purify the state. Insted he was persuaded to show the Trotskyists, and the liberal democracies, that the Soviet Union was prepared to liberalise their politics and end the dictatorship that Stalin had imposed. The Constitution itself, which was named 1936 Soviet Constitution, gave universal suffrage, secured freedom of speech, religion etc. It seemed as if the Soviet Union ws opening up and Stalin loosing his noose upon Soviet society, furthermore it secured the right to work as most western democracies did not have. By the Soviets it was portrayed as a major triumph for Socialism, the Soviet Union and most important Stalin himself. Pravda described Stalin as "genius of the new world, the wisest man of the epoch, the great leader of communism". But for those outside of the Soviet Union and the Left Opposition within viewed it as nothing but a piece of paper. A work of propaganda. The Communist Party was classified as the Vanguard Party and the only party allowed, in the end it didn't matter if one could vote - and as Stalin allegedly said "It's not the people who vote that count, it's the people who count the votes". And other matters of freedom of religion was dubious as religious societies faced great confiscations and the right to work was used as an excuse for poor conditions during the industrilization. The new Stalin Constitution ws mostly mocked by the liberal democracies as a farce. The political left of Europe was divided on the question. Some praised Stalin's while others accused him of revisionism (and they were again accused of revisionism by the Stalinists). In Norway Trotsky remarked "the Soviet Union have transformed itself from a dictatorship of the proletariat, to a dictatorship of bureaucracy".

This will take some time..

Meanwhile the Red Army underwent extensive expansion. The small arms of the infantrists was improved and new armor was introduced the BT-7 over the relatively new T-26. It was better armored, lighter and faster than most of the contemporary calvary tanks of the time. Stalin ordered a massive expansion of the Red Army some 840.000 men were now called into service for the Union, with under pressure from Marshal Tuchachevski many new armored, airborne and motorised formations were established. However the Army was lacking in many fields such as logistics and outdated equipment*.

This should be a welcomed vitamin boost to the industry.

In late May the Gosplan led by Nikolai Voznesensky started to prepare to end the practical terms of the second five years plan and start on the Third Five Years Plan. The second five years plan sought to expand the heavy industry base, and the following plan was to expand the military sector. Voznesensky proved to be a capable Central Planner, even if the second wasn't as effective as the first one, and geared the USSR toward greater industrial capacity and made reforms to quicker construct infrastructure and factories. He claimed that the successes of the Soviet economy was one the whole world would study for years to come, and that even capitalist and fascist nations such as USA, Poland and Germany mimicked the USSR with their expansion of infrastructure and four year plans. Meanwhile the neighbours of the USSR was concerned if the nation was mobilzing their industry for war.

Traktor grieft an!

In accordance with the Third Five Years plan (which had not officially been started yet) efforts were made to increase the military sector. Tank factories, who had previously been used to produce tractors for the collectives, were set up in Sverdvlosk and Chelyabinsk to produce the BT-7 and to look into possibilities to produce much more heavy armed and armored tanks - the T-35.

Happened later than usual.

Meanwhile the Italians managed to correct their poor reputation following the humiliation at the hands of the Ethopians. By middle of June Emperor Haile Selassie capitulated and Ethiopia was turned into a colony of Fascist Italy. In the ensuing chaos the Third Reich manuevered inbetween the seemingly rift between UK and France and remilitarized the Rhineland. The Fascist nations of Europe was appereantly gaining ground, but Germany was left vulnerable as they had prior to the Rhineland Crisis created the "Westwall" in the Badenese-French broder regions leaving their northern border with France unfortified.

It is enough pushups for now.

Following these events the Red Army stopped their massive manuevers and exercises in August. They had gained decent amount of experience and their men had been prepared for the coming war. Thousands of soldiers could be seen in the steppes of Ukraine simulating pocket defenses, deep operations and provoking the Japenese in the Soviet-Manchurian border region.

Another type of sports commence..

Following the end of the Italo-Ethopian war and the Rhine Crisis the world was relieved during the Berlin olympics. Over two weeks of festivities and international sportsmanship was seen as a sign of global fraternity and peace - and German propaganda. Yet only eight days following the Olympiad another war erupted. And this time in Europe. Elements of the Spanish Army feeling threatened by the new left-wing government of Spain pulled off a coup. What was meant to be a swift coup where the Army was to seize power failed as important cities such as Madrid and Barcelona was left in government control. Instead a catastrophe and great tragic gripped Europe.

With these battleships we should crush the Nazis.

As war seemed inevitable due to the surging Fascist aggression it was decided the Red Fleet was to be supplemented with new battleships. The most deadly of them was Project 23 or Sovetsky Soyuz-class battleships which was designed to rival the Japanese Yamato class battlships. Yet for USSR to achieve an oceangoing navy seemed like distant dream. The sheer cost of project 21 and 23 was tremendous and resources was for now put into producing destroyers and submarines for the Red Fleet. The tentative plans was for Project 21 and 23 to be produced from 1938.

The battle of the arctic is about to begin.

Valery Pavlovich Chkalov was a man to be forever immortalised in Russia and the Soviet Union. By mid December he was tasked to make several daring flights. Until the 24th of February he would cross the arctic and the north pole. The most famous flight of them all was the 63hour flight from Moscow to Vancouver, Washington (not Canada) over the north pole nonstop. He would continue to make several daring ultra long trips and was made a hero of the Soviet Union and described as "the New Soviet Man" along with other heroes. These served as living pieces of propganda and was meant to represent the good hard working and selfless socialist man. It also served the purpose for the Airforce to draw from these experiences and develop new airplanes and doctrines. Unfortunately for Chaklov he died two years later, the 15th of December 1938 when he piloted a prototype fighter on her maiden flight.

Kalinin a popular friend of Stalin.

Kalinin was the popular figurehead of the USSR and as with Stalin he grew up in a proletarian family. He joined the Russian Social Democratic Party in 1898 and followed Lenin in the Bolsheviks and as with many of the Bolsheviks he was arrested in 1916, but following the February Revolutoin he was set free. Kalinin was at first at odds with Lenin as he had promoted conditional cooperation with the Provisionl Government and advised against an armed uprising. Still he was well liked in the Party and during the Civil War he was elected as mayor of Petrograd (St. Petersburg/Leningrad) and in '26 a member of the Politburo. But most importantly from 1919 he was made President of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and functioned as the titular head of state of the USSR. The real power rested with first Lenin and then Stalin. But he played an influential role after the death of Lenin and was a part of Stalin's inner circle, and without his aid Stalin might have lost the power struggle to either Bukharin or Trotsky. Kalinin was some sort of unifying state of head such as the monarchs of Europe's constitutional monarchies. He held little power, but his peasant backround was used for what it was worth and he was seen as the "All-Union headman" by the press and society, he was also well liked by the Soviet population who gave him the nickname of Kalinych. In an effort to unify the country, which was needed, he said "If you are called upon to govern humans, govern humanely".

The industry is picking up!

1936 came to an end, and obviously 1937 came next. The second five years plan was now officially over and the Soviet industry had been expanded (82 factories in the military sector to 105), but the USSR still had a long way to go especially as the Red Army had major deficiencies, and the thrid five years plan was welcomed by the military. The Central Ring plan was still followed, but dockyards was to be created in Crimea and Rostov to speed up the creation of submarines and destroyers - and the battleships of project 21 and 23.

The Trotsky's on a vacation in Norway.

But what about Trotsky in '36? In 1936 he lived first relatively quiet in Norway, except for being hospitalised for a few weeks. But in June things started to change. The Labour Party government of Norway became pressured from multiple directions to get rid of Trotsky. By the French as Trotsky had seen the volatile situation in France and had in many articles encouraged mass strikes among the workingmen. Stalin and the USSR obviously wanted Trotsky returned to USSR for a "fair" trial. And within Norway itself the government were pressured by the National Socialist Party headed by Vidkun Quisling. The NS even hired thugs to break into his house, and even if the burglary was thwarted the socialist government of Norway used these "evidence" to build up a case against Trotsky. Then in August the Norwegian police demanded from Trotsky that he was to give up his political activities and all of his letters, sent to and from him, was to be inspected by the police if he was allowed to reside in the country. Trotsky refused this, and soon he was interrogated as a "witness" in the NS raid. In September he was taken by the police on the orders of the Minister of Justice Trygve Lie. There he was placed in a farm outside of Oslo, being guarded by 13 policemen and where he was to reside indoors for 22 hours a day. He was no longer able to participate in the public discourse, but he managed to get one letter The Moscow "Confessions" out to the public, critising the paranoia and despotism of Moscow. In December the 16th he was deported to Mexico, seemingly far away from Europe to ever incite radical ideas and safe from the NKVD. He looked back at his final year in Norway and said "When I look back today on this period of internment, I must say that never, anywhere, in the course of my entire life — and I have lived through many things — was I persecuted with as much miserable cynicism as I was by the Norwegian "Socialist" government. For four months, these ministers, dripping with democratic hypocrisy, gripped me in a stranglehold to prevent me from protesting the greatest crime history may ever know".

-----

*I'm just getting the army to 1939 ingame size.

 

[ThaHoward]

The Spanish Civil War: Further Beyond.

The Second Spanish Republic.

Marianne is that you?

The Second Spanish Republic was the name of the regime that was officially implemented the 14th of April following the declaration of a republic following a landslide electoral victory for the republicans two days prior. But the events leading to this declaration can be traced by back to the death of the dictator General de Rivera. Following his death republicans of virtually all persuasions (such as Catalan nationalists, socialists and even staunch conservatives) came together to sign the Pact of San Sebastian. The Pact agreed upon to overthrow the Restored Bourbon Kingdom and its monarch King Alfonso XIII. Even if a revolutionary committee was formed the planned coup in December 1930 failed. Despite this the republicans won, as mentioned earlier, a landslide victory in the 1931 municipal elections. Two days after this they proclaimed Spain to be a republic and the king went into exile. This led to Niceto Alcalá-Zamora (a key instigator of the San Sebastian Pact, and imprisoned revolutionary) proclaiming himself as the prime-minister of France and a new constitution was to be drafted. But the young republic inheritated many problems. Chief among them was the strong traditionalist and monarchist support in Spain and the poor economy. De Rivera had depended on overspending and the stock market crash in 1929 had halved the export value of Spain.

1931-35: Struggle, reforms and strikes.

The Spanish Republic and its first President, and many of the angry mobs that would dominate the period.

The new republic installed many new reforms. New agrarian reforms was introduced and other social reforms - in part to showcase a new line and in order to prevent the left-wing unions to gain too much influence.The policy of a centralised nation was disbanded and increased autonomy was embraced and granted to the regions of Catalonia and the Basque Country, in the meanwhile the army was reformed aswell. The army would be reformed in such a fashion that it would have less of a say in internal politics and the officers would be selected from broader stratas. This of course angered many of the traditionalists in Spain, and especially the army (which still had lot of power, just not as much as they had during the monarchy). It didn't help the situation much with the new constitution ratified on the 9th of December. Here it was a clear seperation between state and church (not welcome among the conservative population) and allow to divorce, this lead to another institution of power was now actively working against the goverment. Furthermore all power was taken away from the old nobility, the Jesuits were expelled and sweeping nationalization programs and expropriation of properties were conducted.

The new republic had made the right of Spain their enemy, some would even go as far to say they were the most hostile government toward the Church of all history. Already in 1932 the head of the Guardia Civil along with the son of de Rivera tried to pull off a coup along with 140 others, but they failed and was deported to Sahara. However a center-right government was elected in 1933 and the ones responsible was pardoned in an effort to stabilise the country. But Sanjurjo, the former head of the Guardia Civil, left for Lisboa and would from there organise the resistance toward the republic.

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to strike we go!

On the other hand the republic faced threats from the left. Already the 6th of July 1931, mere three months after the decleration of a republic and five months prior to the new constitution, major strikes was organised by the anarchist union CNT. These strikes was followed up by crackdowns from the government and in turn this lead to a general strike. What followed was brutal streetfights, reminiscent of the ones in Germany, where seven was killed, among them three from the Guardia Civil. The government responded by declaring a state of emergency and all unrest was met with brutality. CNT announced they wanted to overthrow the Republic through a social revolution and 30 others would die.

As mentioned earlier in the 1933 elections the left would face a defeat as the centrist and right parties of Spain would gain the most votes. This again lead to the Social-Democratic party PSOE being radicalised and which now focused more on activities outside of the parliament. This again led to the political right, and most importantly the military, to view upon the general left as a threat to the very soul of Spain. Simultaneously during 1934 the new government would reverse many of the reforms made by the former government. Among them the agrarian reforms and the autonomy for Catalonia - the hotbed of the socialists, communists and anarchist unionists. Following this the Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-wing Groups (CEDA), a coalition of conservatives and catholic conservatives, was given seats in the government. Spain was getting more and more polarized for each day and the powder keg could go off at any time.

And here they strike.

And CEDA seemed to be the spark. the PSOE along with the Marxist trade union of UGT and anarchist trade union of CNT declared a general strike in all of Spain. PSOE went as far as to call it a "revolutionary strike". The strikers would set up an independent republic in Catalonia and encourage the soldiers and sailors of the military to join forces as it had happened in Russia during their revolutions. But the government declared the general strike illegal and martial law. And unlike in Russia the ordinry soldier did not join the "revolution" - as Trotsky had said "history do not repeat itself". Furthermore major differences was shown between the PSOE, UGT and CNT and the strike failed in much of Spain due to government action and the disagreement between the revolutionaries and the lack of support from the army. The Catalan republic lasted for only 10 hours and soon the strikes would be put down, with bloody results, in all of Spain. Except for in Asturia. In Asturia thousands of miners would take over several towns and call themself soviets. It seemed as if the Permament Revolution was still underway. It took the Spanish forces over two weeks to pacify the area and nearly 3000 would die in civil war like conditions and 30-40.000 taken prisoner. The leader of the government crackdown was General Francisco Franco. He would lead the Spanish Foreign Legion consisting mostly of Morrocans - ironic as the strikers was portrayed as a foreign Bolshevik conspiracy. In the end the revolution failed and the middle class was alienated from the left over to the right and the Army was seen as the backbone of the republic and Spain and the only ones capable of protecting it against communism and anarchy. With Franco as a national hero.

Polarization.

The main parties of the Popular Front.

Following all these events the Spanish democracy had shown just how weak it was and the centrist parties had all but disapperead or allied themself with the extreme ends. Prior to the 1936 the parties had organised themself into two different camps. One of them was the Popular Front. It was a big tent left wing alliance consisting of the social-democratic (alltough seemingly much more radical due to its failed 1934 revolution) Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the communist parties of Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and Workers' Party of Marxist Unifiction (POUM) and the two republican parties of Republican Left (IR) and Republican Union. They were furthermore supported by Galician and Catalan nationalists and Marxist and anarchist-syndycalist trade unions.

The PSOE was the "moderate" socialist party as being social-democratic, but due to their actions one could ask how moderate they truly were. The Republican Union was a socia-liberal centrist party. IR was a left wing liberal-republican party and its leader was Manuel Azanã. But the most interesting was the two communist parties. PCE was the official Communist Party of Spain (as dictated by the Comitern, in practice the Soviet Union) and it was led by the USSR loyal José Díaz. However the PCE was in all reality a marginal party and relied on the Popular Front. The POUM was the largest Communist Party of Spain and it was officially a Trotskyist party. But prior to the 1936 election the Trotskyist of Spain and those who supported the Right Opposition in the USSR merged together to one party both to unite and to be an alternative to the Stalinist PCE, something which Trotsky himself opposed. It wouldn't take much analyzation to see that the Popular Front was an unstable alliance brought together solely to be in opposition to the right, or the Nationalists as they would be known as.

For the 1936 election the Popular Front made it their electoral platform to rehire those who had been fired due to political repression, release of political prisoners, rollback of the reforms of the conservative government, re-implementation of the reforms the conservative government had swept away among other things. Ironically they stressed officially political moderation and not radicalization. Even if they were supported by revolutionary unions and had revolutionary parties among its members.

Flag of the Nationalists.

The left might have seemed fractured enough, but so were the right. They were mostly supported by the Army and conservatives and traditionalists. Among them were monarchists, both Carlists and Alfonsonists. They couldn't agree upon who was to be elected as their King, only that they were in opposition to the Republic. The controversial CEDA was also seen as a nationalist party and the Falangists. The Falangists was a marginal fascist like party. Nevertheless this coalition made it seem as the Popular Front was in opposition to autocracy, fascism and the defenders of the Republic. Meanwhile the Nationalists was seen as the counterweight to Bolshevikism and afterall the Army, a faction among the Nationalists, was indeed the ones who had saved the Republic and Asturia from a Bolshevik dictatorship.

1936 Election.

The Conservative government of the left-wing Popular Front, which was opposed by the conservative and traditionalist powers of Spain.

As a reflection of the polarization of Spanish society the election of 1936 was extremely close. The Popular Front won by a margin of nearly 150.000 votes (with 10.000.000 total votes for the election) less than 2% margines. However the electoral system made the Popular Front achieve majority. Meanwhile the Falangists only achieved 46.000 votes - 0.7%. The minor victory, but with a majority, led to arroganse from the Popular Front and fear from the Nationalists. Franco encouraged the head of the Guardia Civil to establish order and for the current government to not resign. But Manuel Azanã was now the second President of the Republic leading a fragile coalition. Despite the new President being quite moderate the right saw it as a Bolshevik revolution. Especially following the release of political prisoners among them those who had participated in the 1934 strikes contributed to many of the right viewing the new government as lawless. Assassinations occured and other forms of political violence on both sides, and in fear of futher nationalization the investments in the Spanish economy fell below the 1913 levels and the workers and farmers of Spain expected much better wages than what was realistic. To make the situation worse militias from both sides emerged, where the far left wanted a social revolution. The Falangists would recieve funds from Italy and Mussolini, but not Germany, and would grow rapidly becoming a much more potent force as would the communists and anarchists. Order was breaking down in Spain and revolution or war seemed immiment. And some decided to bring order and peace back.

Guerra.

Coup.

Spanish military take control of large areas of Spin, helped by unmarked German planes.

And it would be the Spanish Army who would do so. Among them the African Army under Franco (who had been exiled to the Canaries) the heroes of 1934, the saviours of the Republic. Between March 5th and 12th several meetings of conspiracy would be held in Madrid. The officers planned a coup and Sanjurjo was chosen as their frontfigure from his exile in Portugal. The coup was launched on the 17th of July in Spanish Africa and the 18th in mainland Spain. In Morocco the coup was successful, but in Spain the results was mixed. What was supposed to be a swift coup ended up in the Republicans controlling important cities such as Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelonia and Valencia. To make matters worse Franco was stuch in Morocco with 30.000 troops of the French Foreign Legion - most were muslims who had been told the Republicans wanted to wage a war against Allah. Nazi-Germany sent several unmarked Ju-52 transport planes and Fascist-Italy warships to patrol the strate of Gibraltar. Civil War seemed immiment, a war that might aswell bring all of Europe into another Great War. The nations of Europe convened and negotiated a truce. A new election was to be prescribed and neither side would resume the hostilities (thousands had died during the two days).*

Civil War.

That didn't work out.

But following the Olympics the Nationalists went on the offensive. Having entrenched themself and supported by moderate conservatives and extreme fascists alike, united under the common cause of stopping the Bokshevik threat, and bolstered by unmarked Italian and German soldiers they moved out of their southern stongholds of Seville, Cordoba and Granada and spread out to occupy most of south-west Spain. Peace was not secured for our time.

International Brigades.

The Internationals.

But as the Nationalists was bolstered with foreign troops so was the Republicans. The International Brigades was an organisation formed by the Comitern and most was recruited from Paris. 30.000 to 60.000 volunteers would serve in these brigades. They attracted all kind of soldiers, from adventurers to convinced communists who wanted to take part in a revolution to democrats who wanted to preserve the Republic and anti-fascists who wanted to stop the spread of Fascism. Meanwhile the POUM attracted Trotskyists who saw the International Brigades as a Stalinist tool. Stalin himself would send several NKVD agents, commisars and Red Army officers to help the Republicans and along with Mexico would aid the Republicans with arms. Stalin however was weary of escalating the conflict and the Soviet volunteers would be unmarked.

Soviet "Volunteers".

Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to war we go.

But where Stalin wanted de-escalation other Soviet elements viewed this as Stalin on purpose wanting to prevent Spain from developing into a Socialist State. Already Republican Aragon and Catalonia was experiencing what was called the Social Revolution. In secret several Red Army officers conspired, even before the coup, to send out elements of the armored and mechanised formations of the Red Army to Iberia. They were led by Konstantin Rokossovsky, a Polish born Soviet general who wanted to modernize the Red Army spearheaded by armored units. He was chosen for several reasons. It was revealed he was to be the victim of Stalin's paranoia and high ranking officers such as Marshal Tukhachevsky wanted to test out their Deep Operations theories in practice. Later on it was reaveled this volunteer force was enabled by Trotskyist elements in the Red Army and Communist Party who wanted to spread the revolution further. The rest of the world picked up on the Red Army sending a major contigent to Spain independent of Stalin and papers such as TIME would make articles of this "volunteer" force and Rokossovsky. This humiliated Stalin and did nothing but to further escalate the situation.** The civil war in Spain was now a battlefield between ideologies and foreign armies. A preface on what was to come...

---

*I made some changes here. The coup was made in July as IRL, but the war itself started as it did in game.
**Soviet involvement here is much greater than it was IRL.

 

[ThaHoward]

Spanish Civil War: Madrid shall be Fascism's grave.

The initial Soviet-Republican push for Zaragosa.

The Spanish highcommand wanted the Soviet forces to make a push for Madrid and secure the area from the Natioanlists. However Stalin didn't want the war to escalate into an all European conflict. Instead the volunteers and Rokossovsky was granted carte blanch as long as they stayed away from the Madrid region and in turn Italian and German troops. This furthermore put them indepently of Spanish command and wouldn't be subjected to the (Republican) Spanish Foreign Legion as the Comitern International Brigades were. Rokossovsky turned his eyes to the north. The regions of Aragon and Catalonia and the Basque Country was under pressure from Nationalist forces, and these regions were in turn important. First because of the industrialised region of Catalonia, but they were also hotbeds of various leftist ideoogies. The mechanized forces of Rokossovsky would link up with the International Brigades under the command of the Spanish communist Enrique Líster and the Soviet officers Świerczewsk and Stern (going under the aliases of Walter and Kleber). Their plan was to spearhead the attack on the north and south bank of the Ebro river and drive into Zaragoza to utilize the flat terrain on their drive to the city. On the rest of the front the Republican forces would make a general offensive from east to west. The 10th of September the Soviet forces was in position, and a mere day later as the sun went down all hell opened up on the Nationalist forces. Thousands of artillery shells poundered the entrenched positions of the Nationalists, and mere hours later the Soviet armor and infantry penetrated the lines.

Conquest of Zaragosa and pacification of surrounding areas.

The Zaragoz Offensive caught the Nationalists completely off guard. Rokossovsky's plan was for his mechanized thrust to a diversionary assault. So that the enemies would fortify the narrow strip capable of armored and motorised manuevers and the rest of the front would be weakened. But the sheer firepower and aggressive tactics from the Soviet forces shocked the Nationalists. Less than six days the forces of the southern bank of the river had reached Zaragoza itself and was now digging in or starting on enrciclements manuevers. The forces of the north side of the river also breached through the enemy defences. The new tools of war, armor and warplanes, demonstrated its devastating and decisive capabilities. By the 30th Zaragoza was firmly under Republican control, but Rokossovsky didn't stop there. The Natioanlists had been caught in several pockets and the Soviet-Republican forces were now finishing them off.

Generalissmo Franco and the developing fronts of Spain. A banner in Madrid reading "They shall not pass! Fascism want to conquer Madrid, Madrid shall be fascism's grave".

Meanwhile the coup leader Sanjurjo perished in an aircrash leaving the north and southern Nationalist forces under seperate commands. However this collapse of Natioanalist command was nothing compared to the collapse of the central authority of the Republicans. They relied mostly upon ineffective party and union militias and the government was under pressure from the leftists to begin a socialist revolution. In response to this the government resigned and the socialist Caballero was chosen as the new Prime-Minister to unify the far left. Under the leadership of the NKVD the militias of the anarchists and POUM was inflitrated by Communist political officers and these militias would now be an official part of the Republican army. In the north (outside of Zaragosa) Franco saw success while his southern counterpart didn't manage to break through the lines and get the quick victory they had hoped for by taking Madrid. Franco on the otherhand took control of the Basque Countr from the anarchists and syndicalist militias without much effort. He was now named Generalísimo and Caudillo of Spain - leader of Spain. The Spanish civil war became increasingly a war between the far right and the far left.

The Burgos Offensive. Foreign Moorish troops in Service for the Natioanalists, and soldiers from the International Brigades. Republicans surrendering in Bilbao and the victims of war.

Rokossovsky didn't stay on the defensive. His forces had an alltime high morale and the Natioanlist forces around Burgos and Bilbao was shattered from the Zaragoza offensive or exhausted from the Nationalist Basque offensive. The Burgos offensive's plan was for a mechanized thrust from east to west to Burgos, and then drive northward to Bilbao and relieve the Republican militias caught in a pocket and isolate the Nationalist forces. Meanwhile the Republican forces would mop out the remaining pockets and make a general offensive spreading out the Natioanlist forces thinly. The Burgos Offensive started the 17th of October, but the Nationalist forces was now much more prepared for the Soviet armored thrust. Tactics was developed to better combat the Soviet armor and the terrain didn't favor the forces of Rokossovsky. And most importantly the front of the Soviet forces was spread out and Rokossovsky couldn't make a concentrated push. By the 30th some gains had been made, but the Natioanlist proved to be much more resilient than what they seemed during the Zaragoza Offensive.

The stalemate in northern Spain, the Aragon pocket and the Nationalist Madrid Offensive. An unmarked Stuka and Franco meeting close friends.

The Burgos Offensive was going in the favor of the Soviets. They were gaining terrain, but each inch of Spanish soil was hard fought. The hilly and mountainous terrain wasn't favoring the armored and motorised infantry and Rokossovsky admitted that they perhaps should have studied the Spanish terrain better before sending out their "volunteer" forces and that the future war might not be one over-reliant on armor as first believed, but might be more akin to the Great War. The mountains and hills of Castile and León and the Basque Country proved to be a graveyard for armor and trucks. They would get stuck and caught in ambushes and the armor didn't have much visibility. Instead the motorised infantry had to disembark way before entering the battlefield and was exposed as they had little support. Still they had plenty of aircover from Soviet air units and the Republican air forces. Most surprisngly was that during their offensive the Soviets encountered unmarked Oriental forces who were believed to be of Japanese origin. However south of Zaragosa the Republicans had caught several Natioanlist forces in the Aragon Pocket, this proved to be a devastating blow to Franco and their hopes of a norhtern counter offensive was forever lost. Meanwhile German and Italian forces spearheaded the offensive for Madrid and managed to create several holes in the Republican lines, well supported by German Stukas and Italian bombers. Would Rokossovsky and his volunteers be able to liberate Borgus and Bilbao before Madrid fell?

The sprint toward Burgos.

All of November proved to be one of a stalemate and many of the Soviets questioned why they were in this foreign country and so did the International Brigades. It didn't help much that it seemed as if the Soviets did all the heavy lifting, and in the Republican Army the International Brigades and other foreign fighters was treated as expendebles, giving lesser treatment and being thrown out to reckless fighting. But Rokossovsky held his forces together and around Christmas the Nationalist lines finally seemed to give away. During early morning of the 28th Borgus fell to Soviet forces and the Natioanlists was in disarray. Vary of being caught in another pocket many fled the combat zone and the Soviet-Republican forces planned to make an assault on Bilbao and cutting the Natioanlists off.

The two fronts on the onset of 1937. The iconic photo of Marina Ginestà.

The year was now 1937. Almost six months of war had engulfed the peninsula. The Nationalists was slowly gaining ground in Madrid, but the defenders had high morale due to the victories in the north and icons such as Marina. Rokossovsky had started the Basque Offensive where the prime goal was Bilbao. However he had exposed units in Burgos. They seemed as an easy target for the Nationalist and the Japanese foreign troops, but that was according to plan. It was in accordance to Deep Operations as the main assault was for Bilbao and the vital ports there. Meanwhile Burgos would be used as a bait to divert Nationalist forces away from entrenching in the Basque mountains and instead commence on costly streetsfights. Meanwhile the western powers of Europe became disillusioned. The Nationalist in Spain was now under the influence of Italy, Germany and the Falangists and the Republicans under the Soviet Union and the revolutionary left became the dominating forces with the Republican Left and Union having little say. The Spanish War was now not seen as a war to save the Republic, but rather as a clash between Fascism and Communism. The world held its breath to see if the totalitarian forces of the left or the right would prevail, and they were well aided by Japan, Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union who had sent thousands of soldiers and weapons to each of the sides. Many foreign fighters had returned home as they couldn't support Fascism nor Communism, but many were detained. Still foreign fighters streamed in the thousands to fight either Fascism or Communism, among them was George Orwell who fought for the Trotskyists.

A CNT-FAI flag.

Amidst all this the libertarian marxist and anarchist-syndicalist unions of CNT and FAI led an interesting social revolution in Aragon and Catalonia. Their aim was to end all private property and the economy to be put under worker control. In Catalonia as much of 75% of the economy was put under the control of the workers, factories was run udner committees, agrarian areas became collectivized and run as libertarian socialist communes. According to the propaganda of the unions and the Trotskyist made it look like a huge success, the actual results was unknown. All that is known is that private property was taken by force and even if the communes was to be run on libertarian principles many was forced to cultivate the earth and "poor working morale" was punished. Still these areas would seem to be the model of a socialist economy and the production allegedly increased. Still it was disagreements within the Republican government and people. The middle class felt alienated by the harsh methods of the anarchists and in turn thhe Republican Left and Union became suspicious of the leftist parties. The Communist Party didn't agree upon these methods either, instead wanting a central planned economy and thinking the war should be won before a socialist revolution was carried out, and Stalin became increasingly worried hinting that he might withdraw all support if the Trotskyists and anarchists weren't controlled. Those opposed to this sentiment however argued that one had to simultaneously fight the war against the Nationalists and against capitalism. It seemed as if a civil war within the civil war was brewing...

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 2: Abolish the Cult of the Individual.

There is no room for individuals, only hard work.

While the war raged on in Spain the situation in the Soviet Union would face many changes and challenges aswell. Stalin and his government had put much effort into establishing a cult of personality and to celebrate the New Soviet Man. This, however, was not a concept developed by Stalin. It had existed long before and was rooted into the Marxist promise that communism would lead the world into a new classless society. Trotsky wrote about it: "Man will make it his purpose to master his own feelings, to raise his instincts to the heights of consciousness, to make them transparent, to extend the wires of his will into hidden recesses, and thereby to raise himself to a new plane, to create a higher social biologic type, or, if you please, a superman".

It may then seem ironic that Stalin would come under the attack that he was focusing too much on individuals, such as the polar pilots. It happened first when Stalin wanted to celebrate Rokossovsky as an ideal socialist. But he publically parted with such line of thinking and claimed that "the victories in Spain are the result of the collective efforts of the Soviets". What led to Rokossovsky going against Stalin is likely that documents were leaked giving hints that Stalin wanted to make purges no longer among the common population, but among the leadership of the Red Army - and in turn Rokossovsky. The general merely went on the offensie, safely secluded in Spain, to secure his own position. And where Rokossovsky boldly stood in opposition to Stalin others followed.

Khrushchev and his comrades thinking about communist things, such as purging.

One of them was Nikita Khrushchev in what proved to be a curious case. By 1937 Khrushchev was loyal to Stalin, yet during his rise in the Communist Party he supported Trotsky against Stalin in 1924. This would however didn't seem to be an issue for Khrushchev as the Trotskyist elements was purged, he even supported the purges i 1936 and 1937 with great success and brutality. Khrushchev became the head of Moscow City Council and a member of the Central Committee, and was soon tasked with carrying out the purges, but also to fulfill the collectivist propaganda project. There he made many quotes such as "comrades we must abolish the cult of the individual decisively once and for all" and wanted to end the cult of personality as he called it. Stalin took this as an offense and linked it to his own effort to establish himself as the supreme individual in the Soviet Union. Khrushchev also failed to mend with his Trotskyist past and Stalin wanted to create a trial to take away the potential rival. Khrushchev however was defended by members who seemed to become less afraid of Stalin's wrath. The case also made it clear the dangers of Stalin's paranoia. Khrushchev had done his duties and fulfilled his purge quoatas and was loyal to Stalin. Yet he was the target of an attempted purge, and this led to the rallying of many Communist officials who became alienated of Stalin and looked elsewhere for direction. This also greatly humiliated Stalin.

I like these R&Ds.

Despite the many conflicts within the Soviet Union, the economy and intellectual sector was slowly picking up. Many joined together in the promise of a new collectivist state and funds was allocated to develop universities etc. rather than purge the professors. This led to the Soviet Union making rapid advances in the field of science.

It's raining men.

During March of 1937 the Soviet Union would pass a law that would drastically increase the reserves and potential recruits of the Armed Forces. The western powers feared the red menace was getting ready for war.. And the USSR themself saw as a war against them was inevitable. It all lead to a vicious circle of paranoia.

This might get interesting...

Following the celebration of the International Workers' Day, the political landscape of Europe would tke a drastic change. Following the indecisiveness of the western powers in regards to the Italo-Ethiopian War, the remilitarisation of the rhineland and the Spanish Civil War and the internal problems in France many didn't foresee the developments that followed. The Little Entente was an alliance between Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Romania, mainly created to prevent a Habsburg restoration and Hungarian militarism. But the alliance had mostly been defunct, and it was then surprising that France decided to break away from its policy of standing with the British and being neutral and to create a biletral agreement with the Czechoslovak government. France was now included in the Little Entente and the two powers formed what was to be known as the "Czech Entente". This was obviously a move to contain fascism and militarism in central Europe, which was evident when the French prime-minister declared "it is our duty to safeguard Europe and protect the new nations from irredentism". But in the Soviet Union the growing opposition saw it as a foreign conspiracy, and most importantly as failed politics. Many now started to critisize the validity of Socialism in One Country. In their opinion the western powers were now gathering together to stop the spread of socialism, they justified this by quoting the former French prime-minister who wanted a "Cordon Sanitaire". Molotov it was said was not aggressive enough and didn't manage to secure the Soviet Union, instead the forces of imperialism and capitalism spred through Europe. A new course was needed. This was however all in secret meetings, as no one dared to so openly challenge Stalin.

So many advances. Hopefully the army will be able to keep up..

Marshl Tukhachevsky saw the successes of the Soviet armored spearhead in Spain as evidence of his belief in mechanized offensives and Deep Operations. This lead to a major change in policy where the more conservative marshals were sidelined and new tactics and strategies was being put onto the table. Still the Red Army lacked in equipment. Many believed the Red Army would face problems as they relied upon a system that was too complex and advanced for it to carry out. Still Tukhachevsky formed a clique with fellow officers, which was by many seen as a direct challenge of Stalin's power. But due to their heroic status from the Spanish Civil War, many saw them as too big to fail. Would Stalin deal with the loss of authority?

There will be peace for our time!

In early morning, local time, of the 10th of May Japanese forces was having an exercise near the Chinese border. The border region was a contested area for the increasingly aggressive Japan, many of the generals wanted a war, but they needed an excuse. A convenient excuse then presented itself. A Japanese soldier had deserted to the Chinese side of the border. The Japanese mustered a large contigent to retrieve their soldier and asked the Chinese to be allowed safe passage. With their silence the Chinese turned down the request. Several attempts were made from the Japanese, but as the Chinese gave them the silent treatment the generals ordered a small scale invasion. The Marco Polo bridge was then attacked by 5600 Japanese in a vicious assault against 100 Chinese defenders. The Chinese fought well, but was steamrolled by the Japanese soldiers and the awesome firepower from the artillery. Chinese reinforcements was sent to the bridge, but the Japanese had already taken it. What followed was a further slaughter and soon the important cities of Beijing and Tianjin were conquered. The Japanese demanded apologies, reimburstment and that the Chinese better "control their communists". The Chinese folded and not only presented Beijing and Tianjin to be occupied by the Japanese, but also the areas surrounding Jinan and the strategic port of Qindao. It was hoped that this would stave off Japanese offensives and secure a lasting peace. Meanwhile in USSR the far east front was on standby, many generals of the Red Army demanded an invasion of Machuria. Citing "today they take Mao, tommorow they take Russia". Stalin was silent, no invasion would be commenced, yet shockwaves came through the political circles of USSR and the Red Army; it was possible to challenge Stalin and come out of it alive.

Some people enjoying a "vacation" in Siberia, using their pasttime to build infrastructure.

Not all was so lucky though. The Great Purge by Stalin didn't effect profilic members of Soviet society. But many on the lower echelons of society were labeled as "Trotskyists, fifth columnists" among other things. They were often sent to Siberia and the Urals to take part in the infrastructure projects there that had intensified during the summer of '37. In case of a war it was facilitated for great parts of Soviet industry to be moved to Siberia and the Urals. And for the people living in these areas it was welcomed to develop their lands.

Things are getting out of hands.. Pictures of the heads of states of the Little Entente.

Throughout the course of 1937 the various states of the Little Entente would reaffirm their alliance. France, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia entered into a major bloc. It seemed as these countries chose neither death nor dishonor. Yet this escalated the situation in Europe. Hungary, Italy and Germany saw this as aggressive posing. The same did the Soviet Union, who in turn led to heavy critizations and allegations toward Molotov, and indirectly Stalin. The Romanian wanted to reaffirm their alliance with Poland, but Poland declined this fearing it would provoke either Russia or Germany, or both, to strike. Despite this France made a uniliteral guarantee of Poland. Was peace secured for their time?

Let the monsters spread out over Europe!

The T-35 was in July officially introduced to the Soviet armored forces. The tank was a collossus of 45 tonnes, having 76.2mm gun with two 45mm guns, in addition it had five to six 7.62 machine guns. This tank wouldn't be practical in urban combat, terrain and offensives but was excellent for firesupport. Despite it having dubious performances it showed a clear Soviet emphasis on armored development.

Appereantly appeasment do not work.

Despite the major concessions from the Chinese, the Japanese felt as if the Chinese hadn't done enough. The official reasoning was that Mao and his People's Liberation Army was running amock and was a threat to the people of Shanxi. The Japanese mustered troops along their common border and invaded Shanxi. In response to this the PLA moved into Shanxi and occupied the whole area and drove back the Japanese forces. In response the Japanese government invaded China for their failure to bring order to their country, in reality to conquer them and their resources. Soon the governments of Mao and Chiang Kai-shek entered an unholy alliance to make a united front against Japanese Imperialism. Many of the Soviet officers in the Red Army wanted to send volunteers to China and the PLA as with the forces in Spain. Stalin however refused, not wanting a war with Japan citing they could not afford to plunge the world into a new great war. The opposition of Stalin saw this as the current government being a corrupt government who wouldn't support the struggle against imperalism and their socialist brethren. If this was true is doubtful, but what was evident was increased dissertation agains the government.

A new world with rubber.

Dealing with their decreased popularity the Soviet government started on a project for land developments and to improve the agricultural sector. The project was started in September of '37 and would be called “the great transformation of nature”. It was officially outlined as "the plan for planting of shelterbelts, introduction of grassland crop rotation and construction of ponds and reservoirs to ensure high crop yields in steppe and forest-steppe areas of the European USSR". Other than new canals, cultivated land, planted trees etc. the most important aspect, from a military point of view, was the rubber production that would take place in the deserts of Kazakhstan. The new sources of rubber would make the USSR more self sufficient and no longer needed to rely on imports from Siam (but still needed to import rubber from British Malay and Duth Indonesia). A propaganda poster then came to the streets of the major cities of the USSR: "only a madman as Stalin think he can transform nature itself". This led to severe crackdowns, but the ones behind it couldn't be found. In conjecture with the increased threat from the east and west the economy of the USSR was transformed into what many called for "war socialism".

Cute little baby.

In December the schools of the USSR became increasingly militant. Patriotism was instilled and internationalist values with the men and women of the Red Army during the civil war in Russia and in Spain being seen as great heroes. Military physical tests, weapon training and discipline was taken into the curriculum of the schools. The Soviets looked on the Hitler-Jugend with great fascination, and wanted a similar organization to be the norm in their schools preparing them for the coming war.

Stalin and Marshal Voroshilov.

Marshal Voroshilov was one of the five Marshals of the Soviet Union. Unlike Tukhachevsky he was loyal to Stalin and personally signed a significant documents during the purges. He was appointed the equivalent to Defense Minister, and made reforms in the 1937 to better train the soldiers of the Red Army and get them ready for war.

Mother Russia gonna need all the production lines it can get when the Germans knock on the door.

1937 had come to pass. The Red Fleet had expanded and so had the number of factories and production lines. Yet there was a war in the Far East and the Fascist nations of Europe was becoming more aggressive while the Little Entente had formed. War seemed inevitable. And in the USSR Stalin and the government was slowly losing the grip upon the population and elements of the Armed forces and government... It seemed as if the terror regime wasn't able to supress the anti-Stalinist movements, and that his paranoia might not be unfound..

Trotsky relaxing by his estate in Mexico.

During all of this the permament revolutionary had spent his time in Mexico. Here, unlike in France and Norway, he was welcomed and given asylum. In Mexico he stayed in the home of the painter Diego Rivera, his wife and also Frida Kahlo who was the lover of Trotsky. But Trotsky didn't fall in retirement in Mexico, instead he kept up his work. He reached out to socialists and communists in Mexico, USA and Canada - most prominent James P. Cannon, Joseph Hansen, Earl Browder and Farrell Hobbs and befriended the founder of the Chinese Communist Party Chen Duxiu. But he also published his book "The Revolution Betrayed". There he argued that the USSR had gone away from a state where the workers are in command to a degenerated worker's state, which would either need a political revolution (as a social revolution had already taken place) or else it would degenerate back to capitalism. The book would be sent with the many weapon's shipments from Mexico to Spain, and from there into the hands of the Red Army. Many would burn them, but many would bring them back to the USSR and despite government efforts the book would circulate throughout the USSR. The question was if the USSR would evolve into capitalism, be under the control of Stalin.. or if a political revolution would occur.

-----

Okay so I changed the evetnts of history a little bit such as many in the Red Army opposing Stalin etc. nd the Little Entente is.. disturbing, and Romania took the reestablish Polish-Romanian focus, but nothing happened so I guess the Poles said nope. And Japan got quite a bit of land which of course helped them in their invasion of China. And it might seem weird on focuses on certain characters, but it will be used later on so it is just plot points in the making

 

[ThaHoward]

Spanish Civil War: Workers, to Victory!

The battle for Bilbao begins

The Bilbao Offensive was coming into its fourth month and final phase. Soviet volunteers, Republican forces and Internationalist Brigades (mostly led by Soviets) was just outside of Bilbao. Most of the treacherous mountains that held up the offensive force in the preceding months had been surpassed. The Republican forces pushed on relentlessly and it was only a matter of time before Bilbao would fall as Burgos had done.

Italian and German bombing of the Basque Country, including Guernica.

But the Nationalist was not prepared to lose the city they had lost so many lives to take. The response was a major Italian and German bombing offensive. At this time it was believed tht bomber planes could be sent out to simply bomb their enemies to submission. Several of newly conquered cities and towns in the Basque Country, an the north in general, was bombed into ruins. Most infamous of these bombings would be the bombing of Guernica. These actions shocked the international community, but even more the Soviet leadership in Spain. A gentleman's agreement had been struck between the major powers in Spain. They would interefere in eachother's wars so to not provoke a larger war. Now the fascists had taken the offensive to the Soviets.

Soviet and Republican airforces bombing the road to Bilbao open.

The Republicans and Soviets was quick to answer the Nationalist bombing campaign. When the Soviet forces reached the outskirts of Bilbao they were ordered to halt. A massive bombing campaign was commenced that lasted for several hours, followed up by an artillery barrage. It was believed the enemies would rout or get their forticifications destroyed. But it turned out it only made the defense of Bilbao easier, and the city that was supposed to be liberated didn't take it fondly to be the victims of massive bombing. A bloody combat in urban enviorment ensued.

Repulsing the halfhearted counterattack.

But the Soviet-Republican overmight was too great. The Soviets soon learned the differences between fighting in open fields and in urban enviorments. The tanks and trucks simply wasn't suited for that kind of combat, and the fog of war blinded all. In general the Soviets experienced for each opposing soldier in Bilbao they had to risk the lives of ten soviets. The urban battle would be a costly affair, but only a taste of what was to come. The 25th of January all of Bilbao and the surrounding areas had been taken. But the Nationalists was desperate to reclaim the Basque Country, and most importantly Burgos. An offensive from the Nationalists was initiated during midnight of the 26th, but it was seen as a diversionary attack. The Republicans and Spanish held their positions in the streets of Burgos and the trenches in the outskirts.

The best defense is offense.

After 21 hours the offensive of the Nationalists seemed to be coming to a definitive end, with their contignent of Japanese volunteers being the only ones holding up the attack. Rokossovsky took the iniative and launched what was to be known as the Valladolid offensive. The goal was to take the city of Valladolid, the port of Oviedo and reach the eastern borders of Portugal. It was hoped this would split the nationalist forces in half and secure a port for supplies.

The last stronghold in the north is about to fall.

In about a week the Soviet armored thrust raced to the east and was beginning to work themself inward to Valladolid. Yet another fight for an ubran center was to begin, and the casualties on both sides would be major.

German-Italian-Nationalist advances in the south, Soviet-Republicans closing in on the Portugese border.

Another five days of continuous had to take place before Valladolid was liberated. The casualties was high, but it seemed as if the Nationalist forces in the north was beaten. Despite the successes in the north the Nationalists was gaining ground near Madrid. They were getting desperate. If the fell to the Republicans it was only a matter of time before the south fell. The Nationalists gained much ground in the south mainly due to the superior arms and tactics of the Germans. But would it be enough?

Cutting off the Nationalists in the Portugal-Corridor.

The Valladolid Offensive would continue for the remainder of February. Province after province would be taken by the Soviet-Republican offensive. Oviedo fell on the 20th, and this secured the advancing forces a port that would supply them with Soviet and Mexican sent arms. The morale was an alltime high for the Republicans, and the Nationalists started to crumble from the string of defeats and lack of equipment. The 26th the forces reached Portugal, creating a tiny corridor which the Nationalists used to escape southward, and the north was left totally open to a Soviet armored division. The war in the north was over, and Franco was begging Portugal to intervene on their behalf.

The war intensifies.

The request was revealed by the NKVD and leaked to western press. This in turn led to UK and France to pressure the Portugese, who had mobilized, to stand down. The British was afraid the civil war would lead to a great war, and the French was afraid the Commuist there would coup their own left-wing Popular Front as they had done in Spain. But the war intensified, the volunteers on both sides was on an alltime high (both actual volunteers and those ordered by their governments) and the Germans would make an innovative air campaign to stall the Soviet advance. In bottlenecks figherplanes, mostly the top modern Bf-109, would disable the lead truck, turn around and disable the rear most truck. This way the column of soldiers or troops was caught and Stukas would follow in and take out the trucks, armor, self propelled guns one after one. The Soviets tried to make a similar move in the Portugese region, but their interwar bombers couldn't match the German and Italian dive bombers. Fearing Franco's Spain would fall Mussolini ordered his navy to the Spanish coast and prepared for a full scale invasion. This prompted the British Navy to detach from their bases in Gibraltar and Malta and lay mines outside of Spain. Tensions was at an alltime high, and the powder keg seemed to get the spark it needed to be lit up. Five German Heinkel 111s bombed Valencia, but one misbombed and hit British destroyers mistaking them for Spanish ones. This lead the British to declare the Italian navy would be met with force if they continued on their course. All held their breaths, if the Italians ran through the blockade Republican Spain would surely fall, but another war on a greater scale would start. The Italians turned around right before the British fired upon them. Direct intervention was now outside of the question, Franco was on his own.

Closing the Portugal-Corridor. Have the road to Madrid been secured?

By the end of March the Portugal Corridor was closed in after a month of bitter fighting. Thousands of men who tried to flee to the Nationalist stronghold in the south was captured or killed in action. The back of Franco was broken and the Republicans and Soviets could now focus on the south.

The Nationalist Madrid Offensive is repulsed.

Meanwhile the Nationalist offensive for Madrid had been halted. The Battle of Madrid was said to be over, and it truly seemed as if Madrid would be fascism's grave. The lands gained by the Nationalists was slowly retaken by the Republicans. And due to the work of the NKVD and the Spanish communists there would be major uprisings in the Nationalist controlled areas, sabotaging the rear areas of the Nationalists and creating many new worker's militias. The Communists would make it look like a revolution in the south. The Republicans could also relocate most of their forces from the north to south giving their defensive lines numerous new bodies and weapons. An offensive was conducted indepedently by the Republicans to the gold coast, creating a pocket in the middle of Republican controlled territory. Thousands of Nationalist forces would desert, either to join the fight on the winning side or return home to their valleys and farms.

José getting to work.

Rokossovsky knew the war was coming to an end. But even then he had to hurry up and keep up the offensive. Stalin had appereantly ordered the Spanish PCE (Stalinist) to purge the POUM (Trotskyists) or else all Soviet contributions would be removed, this was to be lead by Stalin loyal NKVD members in Catalonia, Basque Country and Aragon. But the NKVD members, who would later be proven to be loyal and even taken orders from Trotsky, would foil this plans - aided by armored troops from Rokossovsky. But the Stalinists and Trotskyists joined forces to completely purge the anarchists, only Marxists was be to be allowed. And even in Madrid the PCE, aided by POUM in a new alliance, undertook a coup removing centrists and liberals from power. José Díaz was now the President of the Republic. The popular Caballero was still to be the Prime-Minister, but it seemed as if the PSOE (Social Democrats) was absorbed by the PCE and POUM with the aid of the Soviet Volunteers, International Brigades and NKVD. An American commentator made the dry remark "Spain first had the noble cause of resisting totalitarian Fascism, but have now ended up as a Soviet Republic".

Drawing a nice circle during the Sevilla Offensive.

Keeping up the momentum, to both take on the Nationalists and not to be recalled by Stalin due to the POUM not being purged, Rokossovsky drove from Malaga and pierced through Nationalist lines. The areas around Sevilla was plains and much more suited than the mountains the volunteers had fought in for the last months. Sevilla and Cadiz was reached in a matter of days, and several Nationalist divisions was trapped in a pocket, without any means of reinforcement nor supplies. Judgement day fell upon them.

The Final Offensive of the war. Onward!

Following the fall of Sevilla the Nationalists sensed they would be encircled and ordered an offensive from Cordoba to retake Sevilla. The Nationalists maintained the upperhand here over the Republicans, but was mostly held back by the large river they had to cross. Rokossovsky and the Soviets ignored this offensive alltogether, but instead used it to their advantage. The Soviet forces positioned themself east of Cordoba and the Nationalist offensive toward Madrid. A relentless push from East to West was ordered and the Nationalist forces fell apart completely in the plains and forests near Cordoba and Madrid. Even the Germans faced losses in the thousands as they were cut off from all communication lines. On the International Worker's Day the Final Offensive had come to an end. All Nationalist forces had routed and in a matter of days the front completely broke together and Franco capitulated.

The bell tolls for us.

Republican Spain won, yet the Republicans lost. The PCE and POUM took power and would for the next months ban all other parties than the PCE, POUM and PSOE. Franco and the Nationalists would face showcase trials where the outcome was already given. A new era had now come for Spain and they were to begin on the difficult jounrey to rebuild from the war and to create a socialist state. Fascist and Democratic powers alike looked in despair as a Communist nation was now in the middle of western Europe. Still many liberals, democrats and social democrats felt a relief as the Fascists didn't spread further into Europe, but this led to a further polarizatoin in Europe. The war had been a costly one. In just nine months the war had claimed149.000 Nationalist casualties and 119.000 Republicans - and that was only the soldiers.

Welcome home comrade!

The Spanish Volunteers and the Soviets in the International Brigades returned home to Leningrad as heroes where major parades would be held in their honor. Rokossovsky was seen as a hero (along with many other officers) and even became more popular than Stalin when they returned. Their war in Spain had come to an end, but their trials had just begun..

 

[ThaHoward]

The Border War.

Russians and Japanese soldiers watching eachother.

The Soviet Union (with her client state of Mongolia) and Japan (with her client states of Manchukuo and Mengukuo) had been in an undeclared border war since 1932. It mostly revolved around minor border clashes and disputes between the Manchurian border to the USSR and the Mongolian People's Republic after the Japanese conquest of Manchuria. It was further fueled by the mutual distrust between the USSR and Japanese Empire following the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905 and that the Comitern had earlier declared Japan as a "Fascist enemy". With the Japanese aggression in China, however, the rhetoricsof the leftist Soviet generals sharpened as they wanted to invade Japan outright. While they mainly used the Japanese aggression as a means to discredit Stalin, the Japanese was concerned the Soviets would strike their vulnerable flank.

The Japanese are up to something..

And offense is often the best defense. Or rather to build up a force of deterrence. And that is what the Japanese did during fall of 1937. The first of December the Japanese had build up their border to the USSR in Manchuria. Where the Japanese hoped this would prevent a Soviet invasion, the Soviets was pushed by their warmongering generals. Rokossovsky declared "we fought fascism in Spain, let us fight fascism in the far east".

Concealed Soviet armor.

Vasily Konstantinovich Blyukher was given the task to commence a raid and get a foothold in Manchuria. "You are to mete out a firm and thorough counterattack without fail, once you gather that the enemy is advancing even in the slightest" was the Japanese order to the local commander. The Japanese launched a counterattack.

Soviet soldiers taking a beating.

The Japanese counterattack was a surprise to the Soviet forces. The Soviets had the support of several tank batallions (354 tanks) and 237 pieces of artillery. In addition they controlled the skies with 250 aircrafts. On top of that the contested area was held by nearly 23.000 troops. The Japanese on the other hand attacked with 7000 troops and was supported only by 37 artillery pieces. Despite this the Japanese carried out an attack during nightime. The Soviets was incapable of withstanding the Japanese assault. The Soviet thrust into Manchuria was repelled by the Japanese and the contested areas taken back.

Japanese soldiers getting dressed up as Soviets - from the spoils of war.

The Japanese victory of the Battle of Lake Khasan was monumental. The Soviets sufferent 792 KIAs and 3279 wounded soldiers, on top of that they lost 96 tanks and 30 guns. The Japanese suffered 526 KIA's and 913 wounded. Despite their successes the Japanese retreated from the hills. They didn't want to escalate the conflict further. But the opposing side was of a different opinion..

General Zhukov should straighten things up!

Stalin couldn't afford for his enemies to capitalize on the defeat. General Vasily Blyukher was given full responsiblity for the failure. Failure was punished with death.. He was imprisoned and due to a trial who would end up most likely in execution. General Zhukov was given the command of the local Mechanized Corps and other formations and was to take Khalkhyn Gol.

Mongol clavary once conquered the world, will history repeat itself?

On December the 18th, only three days after the conclusion of the Battle of Lake Khasan, several Mongolian calvary units crossed the borders into Manchuria. They would raid the Manchurian border patrols and recon units, and would soon be supported by Soviet recon forces. Zhukov hoped for the Japanese to be provoked into another attack.

Japan go on the offensive!

In February both sides amassed on the border regions. Then the Japanese airforce struck a Soviet airbase in Mongolia. This was later to be revealed to not been ordered by Tokyo, they rather forbade any further airstrikes. The Soviets on the other hand retaliated with artillery strikes. This provoked the Japanese forces whom attacked in the unfavorable winter conditions in February, instead of during March as the Japanese had planned. The Japanese assault would be two-pronged and they thrusted into the Soviet base on Khalkin Gol and then take the hills and lastly conquer the Kawatama bridge. The Japanese succeeded in taking Khalkin Gol and Baintsagan Hill. But Zhukov perceived this and launched a counterattack with 450 tanks. This resulted in two weeks of fighting where it seemed the Soviets would win, but then the Japanese launched another major offensive. Despite using up half of their artillery supplies in two days, the Japanese second attack went into a stalemate, and by March they had pulled out of the area.

But the Soviets are able to fight back, major battles ensued.

Zhukov followed up by invading the contested area where the Japanese was building up. Their numbers was superior in tanks, trucks, airplanes and men. Despite taking heavy losses from the Japanese, especially from anti-tank guns, the Soviets pushed back the enemy. The Japanese had losses of 40 wounded per day, and despite higher Soviet losses the latter managed to replenish their losses which the former didn't. By the 31st of April the battles was over, with Japanese forces destroyed.

That should teach them (and us) a thing or two!

The raids was a huge success for the Soviets. Despite losing over 30.000 men to the Japanese, the Japanese couldn't manage to hold on to their contested areas anymore. They retreated and gave in to Mongolian and Soviet demands. This was a victory for Stalin. But as Zhukov wrote in his memoar "the Trotskyist elements never got satisfied. Despite the glorious victory for Mother Russia the cowards as they were pushed for more war, for a senseless war to "crush fascism". It was foolish of them, we couldn't afford a war with Japan and Comrade Stalin knew this. But the peasants and workers was moved by their populist sentiments".

-----

So I have just taken the two battles of Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol to one event the one written by the devs.. I had hoped to lose so to make it more likely for the Red Army being dissatisfied, but see this as they wanting to be even more aggressive based upon their successes in Spain and Japan.. This update is only meant as an update. The 1938 update should come on Monday or Tuesday, followed up by the long anticipated one

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 3: The Gravedigger of the Revolution.

What can ever be achieved from this?

In February government officials and top sicentists in France who in reality was Comitern inflitrators gave reports to various commissariat in the USSR that French scientists was pursuing nuclear technlogy and look into the possibilities weaponizing the forces from atoms. The Soviets was given a heads up that they should join on board this arms race, but instead they ignored it. In hindsight it is difficult to see the logic, but the Union prioritized to expand their heavy and arms industry and not to focus on experimental physics.

We are now truly a worker's state.

Around this time the working population of the USSR in many ways found back to their roots. Trotskyist propaganda was becoming increasingly popular, which in turn meant for emphasis on a sound workers's culture and fraternity. While it provided for a much more efficient and motivated workforce, many started to question the lines of "Workers of the world, unite!" and "All power to the Soviets!" when the many rights that had been granted to them by Lenin had been removed by Stalin. Trotskyist propaganda and works became increasingly popular among the urban populations of Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and Minsk (to mention a few) and the peasantry of Ukraine who had suffered from the effects of Stalinist policies in '32 and '33. This led into a vicious circle as Stalin answered dissent with crackdowns, but this again reinforced the Trotskyist propaganda that the USSR was a degenerate workers's state, retorting to Tsarist methods to keep the population in check.

We need to prepare for the coming war.. by land and by sea.

Despite the growing internal unrest Stalin knew a war with either fascists or capitalists was inevitable and needed to prepare for war. The People's Commissariat of Defence Industry of the USSR (PCDI) was given an increase in its funding in April of '38 in order to better mobilize the vast Soviet industry for war when it was needed to. The PCDI furthermore gave special funds to develop the Project 21 battleships and perhaps even field someone in the Red Navy. Meanwhile Soviet army theoreticians under the leadership of tukhachevsky drew upon their experiences from the Spanish Civil War and the Border War to further develop their strategies and tactics. When war came to the USSR the nation would be united as one collective worker's force, with the PCDI leading the war industry, the new battleships taking the fight to the high sea navies of the world and the Soviet generals breaking through the enemy lines on land. Or so was the plan at least.

That's in our sphere!

While Stalin wanted an Oceangoing Navy the British laid mines in his way. Stalin had the same ambitions as the Russians had had for centuries; to open up the Bosphorous. Instead the British made advances toward Turkey to influence them toward their naval interests. Normally this would be disregarded as status-quo in the Soviet Union, as it was in the rest of the world, but the opponents of Stalin knew how to take advantage of it. It was regarded in the failure of Stalinist politics. The French had created an imperialist bloc in central Europe, the Fascist Japanese was subjucating the Chinese Soviet Republic and now the British was closing off Turkey. It was also seen as a national embarrassment to many. The USSR tried to contain the news, but failed to so. The grip upon the press was lost in many places, and soon the public opinion of Stalin soured. The popular Rokossovsky declared "we need to open up the Bosphorous. In the name of Mother Russia, in the name of the proletariat all over the world. Inaction can't be afforded, lest the Soviet Union fall to imperialism". This was soon followed up with the admirals of the Black Sea fleets openly declaring they could run through the Bosphorous, and soon other generals such as Vasily Kuznetsov followed up with they "only needed to send in our paratroopers and shock troops" to Istanbul. But realistically this was impossible for the small Soviet Navy to compete with the Royal Navy and the Turkish one, and they had little amphibious capabilities let alone any airborne one. Yet it managed to be imprinted in the minds of millions of workers and soldiers that Stalin was an incapable military leader and failing in the foreign politics.

This should keep the Germans quiet for now?

While the British and Soviets had their eyes fixed upon Turkey the Germans moved to Austria. Germany demanded a refferendum from Austria on joining Germany. The Austrians incapable of withstanding immense pressure from Germany and from within succumbed to the demands. An overwhelming majority of the Austrians voted "Yes" and all of Austria was soon turned into the province of Ostmark. Yet another clause of the Versaille Treaty had been broken. Would this be the last violation?

We will bring the fight to the Fascists!

Facing pressure from within the Communist Party and even the now symbolic Soviet, in other words the grassroot, and from Fascist advances around the globe the Foreign Ministry of the USSR announced they would now wage a foreign politics that was explicitly anti-Fascist. Project 23 was announced publically alongside Project 21 and it was said that these battleships would be able to tear down the Japanese Navy and the Kriegsmarine. It was also hinted they would be used to challenge British authority in the Mediterranean, but not openly stated to not antagonize the seemingly most powerful nation on Earth.

The British trust Mussolini and Göring, nothing bad can happen now.

The Germans was not content on settling with Austria, instead it only encouraged them further. Hitler promised that all of the German people was to return to the Fatherland and he was intent on keeping said promise. The Sudetenland had a majority of German speaking people in them, mostly from their time in being part of Austria and descendants of German immigrants. Germany promised this would be their last landgrab, yet many were weary as the Sudetenland was a natural defensive line due to their mountains and indeed the fortifications buld there, setting up the heavy industrialised Bohemia wide open for an invasion. A crisis was set in motion during June as Germany threatened with war if their demands were not met. The Germans got the loyalty from the fascist Hungary and authorian Poland by promising them their contested border areas pressuring the Czechoslovak government further. Mussolini then came into the picture as the meditator, and Mussolini, Göring (representing Germany), the Daladier (French PM) and Chamberlain (British PM) met in Munich to come to agreement. The British chose to support the German claims on the condition this would be thir very last claim. Stalin and the USSR was completely left out, much to their emberassment.

Or perhaps not.. Comrade Stalin watch the western powers as the Czechoslovaks mobilize.

The French however was not prepared to leave their Czech allies alone. The French Popular Front government (composed of liberal "Radicals", socialist SFIO and communist PCF) faced lot of pressure internally from their communist PCF to withstand the demands, and even more from Romania and Yugoslavia. Had they not joined together to stand up to fascist aggression? In the midst of the negotiations Mussolini made the blunder of laying claims on Yugoslav territory. It was appereant the fascists would not be content with only Sudetenland. The French even cited the Italians and Germans as weak for turning back their naval invasion of Spain and failing to aid Franco. It was said the line was to be drawn in the sand and Hitler and Mussolini would cower. The British however was committed to appeasment and didn't want a regional conflict to expand and consume the rest of the world.

Will this be the end of Gross-Germany?

During morning of the 1st of July '38 the Czech people was awoken to the drums of war and artillery barrages and the horizon being engulfed by flames. 1.5 million Germans concentrated themself along the Czech border and Panzers was rushing toward the fortifications and Stukas pounding them from the air. Was this the start of WWII? Mere hours later the Kingdoms of Romania and Yugoslavia and the French Republic declared war on Germany for their border violations. Fall Grüne, or Case Green, was put in motion. Fall Grün relied upon the local German population sabotaging the Czech frontline and to demoralise the Czeckoslovak army through psychological warfare, the Heinkel 111s wouldn't just bomb Czech troops and cities, but also litter them with flyers. The German army also worked under immense pressure as they needed to take on the Czechoslovaks before they got reinforced by Romanians and invaded by French and Yugoslav troops.

German soldiers outside of Pilsen, thinking about how they can soon be bathing in beer.

The German assault was unparallelled in the history of warfare. Where most, even the German generals, was stuck in the Great War remembering how regional powers such as Belgium and Romania could bog down great powers, the Germans beat all expectations. German motorised divisions and panzer divisions quickly reached the Czech fortifications and surpressed them while Austrian mountaintroopers and German infantry moved onto the mountains. Most of the fighting was expected to take place in these mountain passes and tanks weren't expected to cross into the mountains. The plan was simple. The Germans would be bogged wond in the Maginot Line and the Sudeten Line, which would then be reinforced with French and Romanian troops and the Germans had to sue for peace. But the Germans.. had other plans.

Germans breaking through the lines, the Croats decide they want to be on the winning side.

But the Germans surprised all - even themself. Due to the mobility of the armored and motorised divisions they went straight through a small gap in the Czech defenses and headed straight toward Pilsen/Plzen. The German army found themself on this natural stop to Prague only two weeks into their campaign. Panich spread through Czech troops and a general retreat was given from the primary defensive lines to their reserve lines. After scouting Pilsen for a few hours German troops entered the city clearing it out street for street, building for building, corner for corner. Meanwhile the ancient city was bombed to ruins by Stukas and Heinkels, shocking the world. But more important several armored and motorised divisions raced around Pilsen and toward Prague.

Around this time the Ustashas saw their oppurtunity to rebel against what they saw as Serb oppressors. The bulk of Yugoslav forces would be trapped in Slovenia, with little hope of breaking through.

Troops from the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler enjoying suburban life in Prague.

And it was here the myth of Blitzkrieg was geboren. While the Czech troops retreated from the Sudeten line the forward German elements wanted to encircle those troops, lead on by aggressive generals such as Guderian. The German army didn't want any of it. From great protests they put it upward to the Wehrmach who too didn't want it. But the protests wasn't stilled, so the ultimate source of authority had to look on it. Hitler too didn't want the manuever units to overextend themself. They were afraid they would expose themself and not being able to be reinforced. Yet Guderian and other generals disobeyed. They knew they needed to take on the Czech army before they reorganised and before they got reinforcements. News had also reached that despite promises Hungary wouldn't be able to participate in the war, opening up a southern front in Bohemia-Moravia, and the Polish wanted to stay neutral. The Panzer and Motorised divisions pushed forward anyway, catching the retreating Czechs in a pocket. Advancing infantry would deal with them. Meanwhile Guderiand and the generals moved toward Prague, circumnavigating Pilsen with many more divisions coming from the northern gap. They made a desperate run toward Prague, with the 1st SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler being the first to reach the outskirts of the medieval capital. A fight to death begun.

Czechoslovkia is stronk!

However early in the morning of August the 6th Prague fell. In bearly a month Czechoslovakia fell. During the assault on the city, the once beautiful city was left to rubble. The world was shocked as they watched videos of German bombers releasing their payloads on their targets. In Times Square thousands came together in disbelief. Czechoslovakia had fallen and the Germans would continue their advance toward Romania. Due to the 1st SS under Sepp Dietrich reaching the outskirts of Prague first, it was decided by Hitler that the division carrying his name was to be forever the first to assault.

No need to go to war when we can puck flowers!

Despite the German victories in Slovenia and Czechoslovakia and invasion of Romania the French stayed mostly safely behind the Maginot line. And the Germans stayed safely behind their Westwall. Neither side dared to go on the offensive and the French was terrified of a communist takeover if their forces was committed deep inside Germany. Despite a small expeditionary force in Yugoslavia and Romania most of the greatest army in Europe would remain in France. The Germans would call it the "sitzkrieg" - sitting war. The British looked on disgust at the French who plunged central Europe into war while not committing their own forces calling it "phoney war", Chamberlain was deeply disappointed in the anti-fascist government of France saying to BBC "there could have been peace for our time".

Commissar Trotsky during the Polish-Soviet war.

But Stalin was also under pressure. Tukhachevsky and Rokossovsky, among others, demanded immidiate action. Either by an invasion of Poland to liberate Ukraine and Belarus and then right into Germany or by sending volunteers to the Little Entente. But Stalin was paranoid and didn't want any other general rising to the popularity of Rokossovky. Tukhachevsky then made the unthinkable. He openly criticised Stalin saying that during the Polish-Soviet war there was a glorious Marshal of the Soviet Union who could have managed to liberate Poland to socialism. A field marshal who said that the road to Germany, the key to a world wide revolution, rested upon the bones of Poland. But his plans failed even if his northern general performed his duty well (Tukhachevsky), but the southern general failed his task on purpose by disobeying the marshal and losing the war. One who did so only to further his own positions. Names were not mentioned, but it was clear this southern general was Stalin (referring to his defeat in Lviv) and the Marshal was Trotsky. Stalin didn't manage to counter it, and many started to write conspiracy theories of Stalin not wanting to intervene for his own good and not the ones of the proletariat, the gravedigger of the revolution.

A nice supplement to Stalin's Oceangoing Fleet.

At least something was positive for Stalin. Project-7 was being materialised as the Gnevny class destroyer and 36 was ordered to bolster the Red Fleet.

So it begins!

And then.. in the middle of the chaos. He returned. And the world would forever change.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 4: Communism needs Democracy, like the Human Body needs Oxygen.

Trotsky on his vacation in Spain, making links with the POUM and PCE and budding up with disloyal NKVD agents.

August of 1938 a bombshell would be dropped in Spain, its effects would be felt throughout Spain and most importantly in the Soviet Union - specifically in the Kreml. NKVD troops and agents had since the civil war in Spain been stationed in wartorn country officially to observe the peace and give the people a time to heal. In reality it was to enforce the policies of Stalin. But the three socialist parties of Spain soon found themself in unity and the PCE General Secretary and leader of Spain José Díaz soon publically condemned Stalin and his purges. He published the book "The Teachings of Stalin, a Luminous Guide for the Spanish Communists" which was highly critical of Stalin and said that Spain needed a new course. Naturally Stalin was incensed and ordered the NKVD to get rid of this "capitalist lackey". But nothing happened. It was then the bombshell came, Trotsky revealed himself in Barcelona. There he declared the USSR had to learn from Spain and their social revolution. The NKVD in Spain had openly defected to Trotsky and there seemed to be peace between the PCE and POUM, under the leadership of Trotsky.

Trotsky covering his face in Paris, appereantly trying to mimick Lenin or himself during the Russian Revolution.

It was clear the permament revolutionary was back. But he was quick on his feet. Stalin ordered sanctions and even aired military action against Spain, but was mostly ridiculed internally and in the international community. Stalin was having someone who was openly opposed to him in France. France had initially kicked Trotsky out of France, but the left-wing Popular Front government there became increasingly radical. The social-democrats was inflitrated by Trotskyists and the French Communist Party got training (military and ideologically) and arms from the now largely Trotskyist NKVD and Republican Spain exported from the Pyreneenes. The socialists and the communists in the government also became increasingly popular among the population, and it was hoped that by inviting Trotsky, and put him in power, the USSR might be forced to join in the war they were involved in and put an end to it. It was in Paris Trotsky declared, with the eyes of the entire world watching him: "Communism needs democracy, like the human body needs oxygen".

The phrase went all over the world. Democrats hoped for a democracy to finally come to the USSR. While in the USSR many saw Trotsky as the return to Leninism, who was under the leadership of Stalin worshipped as a demi-god. But what Trotsky really meant with democracy was uncertain and if he was another Lenin, especially with his history in mind. Still one thing was clear: Stalin's archenemy and worst nightmare had returned.

This really gotta be the last international!

When Trotsky returned to Paris he would not only make alot of speeches, but the Fourth International was held. Here many communists and leftist revolutionaries from North America and Europe joined together to make an international to replace the Third International as they believed USSR and the Communist Parties under the leadership of Stalin had strayed too far away from Marxism, Socialism and so on. The International also came to common programs and solutions for the Permament Revolution to happen. They cited that Trotsky had predicted the war that was raging between Germany and France (one of many really) and this would lead to many new social revolutions. Stalin on the other hand was diving further into his own madness, and it was now becoming clear for many in the USSR a new leadership was required.

The bitter fighting of Transylvania and Slovenia, German, Romanian, Yugoslav, Croat and French troops alike suffered.

But the fighting of words between the two revolutionaries in Paris and Moscow might have seem childish compared to the actual fighting that took place in the Balkans. By September the German troops invaded Romania from Slovakia, taking the Little Entente yet again by surprise. The Panzer divisions quickly eclipsed the Romanian and French forces in the Carpathians and Transylvanian Plateau. The Little Entente forces there retreated slowly toward the mountain ranges hoping to form a lasting defensive line there. The fall of '38 in Transylvania proved to be especially harsh as the temperature was around 0 celsius with constant changes between snow and rain. That kind of climate was the worst type for the physical health of the individual soldier, but the soldiers of all sides did their duty and fought bravely under horrifying conditions. Meanwhile in Yugoslavia the government forces surprised the Germans and French as they managed to break through Croatian lines and establish a tiny corridor to Slovenia. This prevented the small province from falling to the Germans. French soldiers and equipment was pouring into Yugoslavia and Romania for every day, they "only" needed to do what the Czechoslovaks couldn't.

Stalin loses his mind, and Trotsky lecture him safely from Paris.

Stalin responded to the return of Trotsky with mass paranoia. The Great Purge he had set in motion years earlier had mostly targeted the common man and the intellectuals. This time around it would revolve around much more profilic persons. A series of trials against the "Anti-soviet Trotskyist Center" took place and its victims seemed random. The three first victims was Kalinin, his wife and Krushchev. Kalinin had remained loyal to Stalin throughout the purges, despite several personally petitioning him to escape the arbitrary justice of the NKVD. Still his loyalty didn't pay off. His house was constantly monitored by the NKVD and he and his wife was arrested for "Trotskyism". His wife was sentenced to death in a short trial, and Kalinin suffered the same faith. The Russian people had lost their beloved "All-Union headman". This farce of a trial was soon the followed up by another one, that of Nikita Kruschev. Another man who had been genuinly loyal to Stalin. His only crime was his increased loyalty and his wish to abolish the cult of the individual. The collective ethos and worker's culture was now labeled by Stalin as a "Trotskyist-imperialist-capitalist-jewish" plot. Kruschev was executed the very same day his trial ended, with no proof of disloyalty.* Yet another beloved figure fell victim to Stalin.

Former partner of Stalin, Zinoviev.

It was clear among the population and political leadership of the USSR that noone was safe under Stalin and a new course of leadership was needed. The last of the trials was the one against Karl Radek, the former German revolutionary. Under most dubious conditions he "confessed" to several people being a part of this Trotskyist Center. Among them was the two former members of the Troika; Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Borisovich Kamenev. A paralell trial would take place, this time against Bukharin (who also made doubtful confessions) and the Right Opposition. It was appereant Stalin was removing everyone who took part in the Russian Revolution and the formation of the Soviet Union through these show trials.

Long live the Permament Revolution!

It was here the great irony of the theater Stalin directed showed itself. The Fourth International ushered the Union into unprecedented terror and paranoia, and this pushed many within the government, army, navy, NKVD and populace against the dictator. A clique was formed, one that was detirmined to get rid of Stalin and get Trotsky back. An invitation was sent to the former leader of the Red Army. Many did it over ideological persuasion, but many also did it to personally survive or to put an end to the madness of Stalin. The NKVD members who was responsible for executing many of the 16 victims of the showtrials would instead put them into safehouses falsely reporting their deaths.

Who said a trial needed to be fair? And the movember contest by the marshals have a clear winner.

But the gun barrels from the executions wouldn't turn cold as new showtrials was held in Moscow. Blyukher, Tukhachevsky and Yegorov was three of the five Marshals and was all sentenced to death under doubtful circumstances. Tukhachevsky at least had some "proof" against him as he had vocally been critical to Stalin, but his reforms of the Red Army was welcomed by most, and what was wrong in wanting to spread the revolution and aid the Balkans in their war against Nazism? Many started to fear for their lives, but it wasn't only the Marshals who would fall victim to the purges. The generals who was trialed, and sentenced to death in short time, was all picked randomly it seemed. But the ever popular Rokossovsky, the hero from the Spanish Civil War was also arrested for Trotskyism and he too made a confession to his crimes, appereantly missing most of teeth. This created an outrage among the population and the Army. Stalin was now linked to National Socialism. He was moving on against heroes of the October Revolution and the Spanish Civil War. And documents was spread where it was made clear Lenin dismissed Stalin and wanted Trotsky as his follower (with his critique of Trotsky being redacted) and that Stalin had used anti-jew sentiments against Trotsky to expell him. Then another document was leaked that Stalin prior to Rokossovksy left for Spain intented to purge him due to his Polish heritage. This toupled with Trotsky's work on the degenerate workers's state and Stalin's deisre for Socialism in One Country and unwillingness to take the war to Germany led to many to associate him with National Socialism.

The Russian Liberation Army under General Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov.

This proved to be the final drop for many. General Vlasov soon took his Leningrad garrison and 99th Rifle Divison and created the Russian Liberation Army (ROA). He openly declared he wanted to liberate the Russian workers from the despotism of Stalin. A large number of generals soon joined ranks with Vlasov and they operated under the slogan of "all power to the workers!" a clear refference to the Russian Revolutions of 1917. Naturally Stalin ordered the Red Army to this new frontline to confront the ROA, but then entire divisions in Ukraine defected aswell fueled by their hatred against Stalin. The Ukranian SSR soon had a coup, which was potrayed by the propagandists as a massive popular uprising, and denounced Stalin and recognized Trotsky as the true leader of the USSR. The Byelorussian SSR soon followed, along with most of western Russia. The Far East refused to lose their general Timoshenko and was in open rebellion too.

The NKVD is having enough of their goldenboy.

Stalin then had to entrust the NKVD to install order. The NKVD units was mobilized to take control of important railroads (and to sabotage the ones of the rebels), chokepoints and government institutions while the secret police rounded up the fifth columnists. But the leader of the NKVD Nikolay Yezhov was soon taken by the NKVD themself and faced their "justice" for his crimes against the Soviet people. Stalin had lost control of parts the NKVD and the Red Army.

The German advance seem to have come to an end, but for how long?

In the Balkans the war had come to a halt. The Little Entente was holding their ground despite losing the Transylvanian Plateau. Most of the Independent State of Crotia was retaken by the Yugoslav security forces, and with Slovenia reconnected with Yugoslavia the Germans didn't push into Slovenia. The war had lasted for three months and had claimed over 256.000 casualties of the armed forces involved. But for now it seemed unlikely the UK would intervene as Chamberlain put it "How horrible, fantastic, incredible it is that we should be digging trenches and trying on gas masks here because of a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing". And the USSR had troubles of its own. For now the war was regional.**

The Glorious Red Army and Red Fleet.

The military of the Soviet Union had grown in the past two years. It had a massive force of 164 divisons in the field and many more to come. Still they weren't as modern as the western powers. The airforce counted now 1711 fied wings, with new close air support bombers and upgraded tactical bombers underway. The Red Fleet consisted of an impressive submarine fleet as was slowly building up its destroyer fleet.

Now the killings and unrest in Russia will come to an end!

Then it happened. The 11th of October. The Trotskyist Coup, the Second October Revolution, the Permament Revolution or Political Revolution. The ROA and the rebellion of the Ukranian and Byelorussian SSRs was nothing but a ruse. Large swaths of divisions under the leadership of competent generals such as Zhykov was pulled out to the open. There they would face a crippling defeat at the hands of their enemies, but also many of their own divisions defecting. Rokossovsky and the other generals who was sentenced to death had instead been hidden by NKVD officers and they drew back the Stalinist offensive. Zhukov would perish in the battle. But the most important battle took place in Moscow. Later Soviet propaganda would decipt it was a mass uprising as Trotsky returned. It pictured Trotsky returning to Moscow and making the masses revolt under the phrases of "all power to the workers" and so forth. Then Trotsky would personally lead thousands of workers into the Kreml and overthrow comrade Stalin. But Trotsky wasn't in Moscow, he had just made it to Leningrad almost being shot down by German fighters. Instead it was a coup carried out by Red Army and NKVD officers. The Kreml was quickly seized only with sporadic fighting in the offices. Meanwhile the streets of Moscow was locked down by several motorised infantrist units and armored vehicles and tanks. Most of Moscow was already empty of Stalin-loyal troops and those who returned from their battle in the west soon defected to Trotsky or joined forces with Ivan Konev to fight for Stalin. But Stalin perished, in the middle of the night he was assassinated with an icepick. He would die instantly, a faith many of his victims wouldn't get. One of the most hated and feared men was gone. Killed.. by an icepick.

Or perhaps not.

Trotsky was soon proclaimed the General Secretary of the USSR and its head of government aswell as head of state. After many speeches promising this and that and denouncing him and her he would prepare the USSR for war. He would prepare them to crush the enemies of the revolution once and for all. The Red Army was reduced in numbers, but the strategical situation was obviously in the favor of Trotsky. During this time Trotsky and his supporters also bade their time to remove themself of those who could be associated with Stalinism or enemies of the revolution. The officer corps of the Red Army would get a cladenstine and largely ignored purge as the nation was united against their common enemy; Ivan Konev.

Trotsky was right, the supporters of Stalin is really just capitalists!

The Stalin loyal elements of the Red Army, Fleet and NKVD linked up in southern Russia. Shocked by the events that had taken place and the death of their leader they rallied under General Konev. Konev was a warhero from the Russian Civil War and had led the repression of the Kronstadt rebellion under the orders of Trotsky. Now he hd the impossible task of leading his massively undermanned "White Army" as it was dubbed by Trotsky and hold out the regions around Stalingrad - which now was the capital of the Stalinist-Russia. But without any government apparatus, who had been purged or defected to Trotsky, there was a hard time for Konev to keep the economy going and he had to liberalise the economy and open up the markets, hoping to attract foreign aid and investments. Trotsky used this as a proof that Stalin's degenerate workers's state would either degenerate further into capitalism or needed a political revolution to stay alive. Death or salvation. Konev or Trotsky.***

After 15 years of peace, but with great political brutality, was again in Russia. The Second Russian Civil War had started. How much suffering can one people take?

War will set ablaze Mother Russia.

-----

*So I wanted to take on the Great Purge focus as I did it in a testrun. But then I thought anti-fascist diplomac was for 70 days, while in fact it was 210... So well in game these events didn't fire, but they did so in the narrative, with Kalinin and Kruschev being executed in addition to the historical outcome. For the generals they were saved, but trialed and sentenced as in real world.

**I just took the screenshot from the perspective of the French, nothing more.

***I also here took the screenshot from the perspective of "Russia" (tried to explain why it suddenly turned to an oligarchy aswell) but didn't look at it while I was actually playing the game.

 

[ThaHoward]

Okay so this update is really not necessary to read. That's why I'll put it into a spoiler. It will just show the Soviet OOB in the form of the various armies and the generals. Each of these generals and admirals again will have short explenation around them. It is very technical and likely not that interesting, but it also show that the choice of OOB is from a roleplay/narrative one and not gameplay (you'll see that most armies have 5-8 divisions in them, with some having poor generals). It will also showcase the enemy Russia's generals and the ones who was purged. Again this is not necessary and if you aren't interested it is just to skip it alltogether. Now depending on the schedule, I actually might be able to make an update about the civil war tommorow. No promises tho

Spoiler

Trotskyist OOB.

The Belarus Front, spearheaded by Rokossovsky and commanded by Tukhachevsky.

The Belarus Front was stationed in Belarus and had the task of strking from the west from Belarus and the north from Russia into the rebel lands. It was lead by Marshal Tukhachevsky a well known figure by now. It was believed to be one of the most impactful forces on the leadup to the war, with the bold Tukhachevsky in lead and the famous armored leader Rokossovksy spearheading his way to the city of Stalin.

Armored assault from the Ukraine and from Crimea.

The Ukraine Front would take the brunt of the invasion and mostly attack from the west by land. Timoshenko lead the Front with a substantial reserve force by his side. Meanwhile due to the purges and hasty retreat of the Stalinist forces Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsk was made the commander of the 5th Army and he was tasked with leading the main armored force toward Stalingrad from the west (linking up with Rokossovky striking from the north). The commander of the 6th Army was the young General Golikov (38) who would prove his worth by striking from Crimea and forming a second front in Stalinist-Russia before strking toward the Caucasus. This was essential in order to relieve the Transcaucasian Front and to gain some needed oil.

Leningrad Front commanded by Mr. Movember, and not exactly attacking from Leningrad.

The Leningrad was the most curious one. They were originally tasked with protecting the Baltic approaches and the Finnish border from foreign powers, but Trotsky wanted to go all in. They would be sent to the steppes of Asian Russia (faraway from their arctic original AO) and would strike down south, linking up with the Turkestan Front, gain some needed resources and cut off Stalingrad from the east, preventing reinforcements to arrive and the divisions around Stalingrad to retreat eastward. Andrey Vlasov gained his fame when he bravely organised the armed opposition to Stalin, making it possible for the NKVD and Red Army to take power. At the time he was the commander of the 99th Rifle-Division, but due to his bravery in the Trotskyist Coup and the fact that Timenshenko remarked the 99th was the most disciplined division in the entire army, the 37 year old general was given command of the 8th Army and had much to prove.. Its commander was Marshal Semyon Budyonny who would be the only one actually present in Leningrad.

The Moscow Front.

The Moscow Front was made from the garrisons around Moscow. The reserves had a large contigent of mountaineers and the 10th Army's main purpose was to assist Rokossovsky's thrust toward Stalingrad.

Striking at their soft underbelly.

The Turkestan Front was taken from the garrisons in the Central Asian parts of Russia. These parts hadn't really been subjucated by Stalin and it was with great risk the forces was detached to strike on the southern part of Stalinist-Russia. It was hoped they would gain the resources in this area, link up with the Leningrad Front and block off Stalingrad from the east.

Just hold out comrades!

The Transcaucasian Front had lost most its divisions to the Stalinists. This was in many regards Stalin land by its close proximity to Stalingrad and Georgia. The two lone mountaineer divisions there was completely reliant on supplies from their airport and that the 6th Army could break its way to the south from Crimea and end their encirclement.

They should protect against any surprise assault.

The Far East would continue as usual with the two Red Banner Armies garrison the area against a potential Japanese assault with the Front itself having a sizable reserve. Many had deserted however to Stalinist-Russia due to Ivan Konev being the previous commander of the Front. As such it was even more imperative for the fronts in the west to close the east road to Stalingrad so that more troops would not rally to their former commander.

Traitors of the USSR or fanatically loyal?

The main opposing generals, beside Konev himself, was the troika of Malinovsky, Shaposhnikov and Vatutin. Malinovsky grew up as an orphaned peasant and would join the Imperial Army during WWI and soon be sent to the westfront. There he served with distinction, which he continued to do when he returned home to Russia and fought for the Bolsheviks. When the civil war in Spain broke out he left to fight the Republican cause and advise their military officers, taking the Stalinist side in the war and not the Trotskyist. Upon his return he was made a political commissar in Stalingrad and would be one of the leading figures in what he percieved as an imperialist conspiracy against the socialist state. Shaposhnikov was of Cossack origin and due to that he managed to make most of the Cossacks flock to Stalingrad in support of the "true USSR". He had was the Chief of Staff of the Red Army, mostly thanks to the politicking of Stalin and was loyal to Stalin and had from before on a strained relationship toward Tukhachevsky. Vatutin was an ethnic Russian born in Ukraine. From there he would soon be promoted to the Chief of Staff in the Kiev Military District. He was one of the few Ukranians who was loyal to Stalin and tried to persuade his Ukranian divisions to crush the ROA. Instead they would face mutiny, defeat and the death of Zhukov. They retreated back to Stalingrad where Vatutin, Malinovsky and Shaposhnikov would organise the defences against the Trotskyist under the leadership of Ivan Konev.

The true Soviet Navy shall be the masters of the Black Sea.

The strategic situation in the Black Sea became appereant when the civil war broke out. Under British pressure Turkey closed off the Bosphorous, threating to go to war if Soviet warships passed through. The Black Sea had lost many ships to the enemy as ships and submarines mutinied and left for Odessa. The mainfleet would search for enemy ships and hunt them down, while the submarines would patrol the merchant lines sinking any non-Soviet ship passing through.

Sealing off the Black Sea.

On the opposite side of the Bosphorous the Baltic and Arctic fleets would sail down to the Mediterranean and prevent anyone from entering or leaving the Bosphorous openly questioning the neutrality of Turkey.

You chose the wrong side it seems.

The Soviet Navy suffered purges following the coup by Trotsky. Golovky was the rising star in the Soviet Army, but during the coup he did his duty as an officer. Attending to the Naval Warfare School the cadet, and veteran from the Spanish Civil War, refused to swear allegiance to Trotsky saying it was treason. Instead he organised a revolt with his fellow cadets and managed to take several destroyers and submarines. He would stay behind, caught and executed at the age of 32. Following the mutiny of several Black Sea ships and the Naval Warfare School in Leningrad, Segey Gorshkov was one of the victims of the purges that took place. The 28 year old cadet was trialed only for the crime of being in a surface ship. The Trotskyists took no risk of treason, so it was better to get rid of suspects than let them be free. And these was just two of the many officers from the naval arm and the army that would be forever lost when the Trotskyists took power.

Let's bail.

The Trotskyist Order of Battle was set. They only needed the codeword and they would start their massive invasion of Stalinist-Russia. Soviet would be set up again Soviet, brother against brother. Another chapter in the history of the Soviet Union was to be written in the blood of its people.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 5: The Second Russian Civil War.

The city of Stalin turned into ruins.

The Second Civil War would be opened with an act of sheer brutality. Nearly one thousand Soviet fighters would block out the sun and foreshadow the impending doom. The fighter quickly established total air superiority shooting down the few Stalinist fighters who dared to take to the skies. The shadow of doom was followed up by the roaring sounds of 416 bombers who would fly day and night on constant sorties for the next days. Enemy troops would be bombed, enemy communication lines and supplies. 90 naval bombers would in addition to this strike at the harbors in the Black Sea denying the enemy any chance of supply. The bombers would strike the few remaining airplanes stationed on the ground effectively knocking out the Stalinist-Airforce. This was all in accordance to Deep Operations. The planes would operate behind the enemy lines and strike those who were out of reach of artillery. But the 118 long range bombers would strike deep behind enemy lines. The industrial and political heart of Stalingrad was the target. Strategic bombing would follow up for days and nights, the city was in ruins. Despite the lessons from the Spanish Civil War it was still believed an enemy could be bombed into submissions, and the city of Stalin was the target. At the very least the Stalingrad tractor factory was in ruins, proving to be a vital blow to the Stalinist armor production.

The Soviet Union modernised under Trotsky; waging war for oil.

Industry and resources would prove to be an important aspect of the war. The oil rich Caucasian region had defected to the Stalinists. Most important of them was Baku which held major oil reserves. This was a crisis for the Soviet government who needed oil to literally fuel their war machine. An emergency plan was set up to import oil from the United States of America. This deal was not in the favor of the USSR who needed to spend vast resources, and also lost vast profits from their oil exports, to import the American oil and had to use up their entire merchant fleet. Despite the significant Soviet-American trade deal the Soviets didn't get enough oil to their industry and the Red Army. General Golikov had now a new priority: Strike from Crimea into the Caucasus, and take control of the oilfields.

The hunters are the hunted.

Two days into the war the first battle, except for the airoffensives, took place in the war. 20 Soviet submarines had been waiting in ambush for a Stalinist merchant convoy. Instead two Leningrad destroyers the most advanced naval craft in all of Russia, cut off the submarines causing panick with their depth charges and torpedos. Despite the submarines's numerical advantage they would turn around, submerge and flee. The destroyers took up the chase but soon found themself attacked by a squadron of naval bombers. In the chaos a group of submarines split off and engaged the two destroyers. 622 sailors would drown in the Black Sea.

This go well, we will soon take over the Caucasus.

Five days following the start of the civil war the 6th Army got their troops into position. They would be the first army to get their troops into position and was quickly ordered to assault. Across the Crimea only one undersupplies division held the beaches led by Vatutin. The Stalinists was caught by complete surprise as they didn't believe the Soviets could muster an assault this quick. This led to the false belief that the rest of the Red Army was in position only waiting for the signal to attack.

The Black Death.

Spearheading the assault across Crimea was the Russian Naval Infantrists also called the "Black Death" due to their black berets. They had been taken away from their ships who had either deserted or been scrapped. The lessons from these naval infantrists led to an interest from the Red Army and Fleet alike to establish naval infantrist regiments to ease amphibious assaults in the future - such as an assault on Turkey*.

They seem a tad more resilient now..

By midnight of the 20th the assault force managed to cross the Kerch strait with relative ease. It was believed before hand this would be one the most hardfought battles of the war. But it took only a little over four days to establish a bridge head. With their confidence at an all time high the 6th Army ordered a rapid assault toward Krasnodar to take the industry and most importantly the oilfields there. It was believed the forces under Vatutin would quickly succumb. But they did not. It seemed as if the enemy had dug in properly. Moreover the Soviets had to cross over a marshland where the infantrists would sink into the marshes and the trucks and armor get stuck. To make matters worse the open fields of the marsh had offer little to no protection against enemy fire. This led to the assault coming under heavy fire and the Soviets had to dig trenches in the wet and dirty marshes, increasing the risk of trench foot and other diseases. The Soviets then put most of their forces to the south to cross the river leading to Krasnodar. The marshes outside of the defenses would still be an issue, but the front would be widened giving greater room for manuever.

Around this time research by th PCDI began to look into developing a new type of armor. An armor that had the advantages of both light and heavy tanks, but no the disadvantages. The border war with Japan had led to the Soviets realising their gas engines easily burst into flames, and the T-26s and BT-7s quickly burst into flames and was easily penetrated by 37mm gunfire. A new tank was needed in case of a war with Germany, Japan, UK or France. The result was the A-32 prototype, perhaps its greatest improvement was its sloped armor, diesel engine, wider tracks and a 76.2mm main cannon.

A hard fought victory.

During the 22nd of October a large Stalinist raid on Sevastopol took place. They hoped to take out the essential Soviet port and launch an amphibious assault. Several submarines nd 60 naval bombers fired at will into the port. However they hit nothing as the Red Fleet was out on a search and destroy mission. The fleet caught up with the raiders and sunk six of their subs. However the Chervona Ukraina cruiser would be hit by several bombs from the naval bombers. The ship didn't sink, however it had to be abonded and scuttled the next day. The Stalinist raiders had been driven away, but the Soviets lost one of their four cruisers. A devastating blow to the Black Sea fleet.

A little masquerade.

The Soviets implemented Maskirovka ("masquerade") to full effect during the civil war. Several tanks, artillery and fixed positions was concealed with camoflague with the airforce doing recon missions to find their own forces. This led to the enemy being unable to predict where the Soviets would strike from. The Soviets would also add on the confusion by putting up several phoney armor and positions luring the enemy to believe that attacks would come from other places than they should, and believing others would be left open. Seeing most Soviet forces would take days, perhaps weeks, to get to the frontlines several mock positions was also made to lure the enemy to believe they were already in position Along their borders with Germany, Poland and Romania they would falsify their positions hoping the Germans wouldn't invade them. Russian deception was also implemented behind enemy lines with several NKVD operatives being delployed to wage electronical warfare, spy, make acts of sabotage and propaganda and recruitment. The Soviet command hoped this would spread chaos behind the Stalinist lines. This would be combined with the airforce striking at enemy positions behind the lines, logistics etc. This Russian miltiary deception was already formulated in the Art of War "I will force the enemy to take our strength for weakness, and our weakness for strength, and thus will turn his strength into weakness" and being further elaborated by the Soviets "based upon the principles of activity, naturalness, diversity, and continuity and includes secrecy, imitation, demonstrative actions, and disinformation".

For the motherland!

Afternoon of the 23rd most of the Soviet forces was in position. By Trotsky's orders a codeword was sent across the radios of the Soviet Union. It said "all power to soviets" and then the entire Soviet Red Army started on their offensive from Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and even Kazakhstan. The civil war had truly begun. Thousands of artillery shells would be plunged into the enemy lines with bombers and fighters taking out reinforcements coming to the frontlines. Several Stalinist divisions would defect to the Soviets or be confused as to where the attacks actually came from due to the Maskirovka doctrine. By the looks of it Stalingrad would soon fall and the revolution would be triumphant. The architect behind the invasion would be Marshal Tukhachevsky. His aggressive spirit was proven in one of his most famous quotes of the war: "The fate of world revolution is being decided in the steppes: the way leads over the corpse of Stalin to a universal conflagration.... On to Stalingrad, Baku and Tbilisi -- forward!"

The assault had to be put to a halt.

In the south the offensive had been called off. The lone Stalinist division proved to very resilient and refused to give any ground to the advancing Soviet army. The situation was reminiscent of the Great War. The Soviet troops had to cross a large area of unfavorable terrain. Meanwhile the enemy was protected in their trenches and unleashed machine gun fire and artillery barrages on the advancing forces. Attack after attack was repulsed and the 6th Army had no choice but to call off the attack and restitute and fin alternative paths to Krasnodar. Golikov questioned if effectiveness of the Red Army was significantly weaker due to the last purges of Stalin and Trotsky leaving out many experienced junior and senior officers. In their place several officers had come, only out of ideological persuasion and not competence. Of course he didn't say this openly as to not be purged himself - something he risked if he didn't take Krasnodar. Defeat meant incompetence in the Red Army. And incompetence was a crime.

Trotsky is even more modern now, being against oil.

The Soviet Airforce realised they needed to deprive their enemy of resources in order to win. Realising they would not get to the oilfields of the Caucasus in a short period of time as previously anticipated, the strategic bombers would be directed from bombing the urban industrial complexes and instead direct their bombs on the oil refineries. The sky would be blackened with thick smoke and smog from the burning oil, in addition to the bombers the NKVD had several operatives behind enemy lines, sabotaging their industries and infrastructure while also recruiting several local villagers and workers to their cause as partisans**.

How much longer can they hold out?

Despite Golikov arguing he needed to have a combat pause for his men to restitue and recover Trotsky personally demanded that the 6th Army was to resume their attack. Hard pressed two infantry divisions and a mechanized corps*** crossed the river hoping to take the defenders by surprise. Instead their assault was put to a halt. The BT-7s and T-26s was easily destroyed by enemy AT guns who took them out as they drove themself into the marshes. It was here the A-32 was used for the first with great success, but they didn't manage to tip the battle to their favor. Days later snow fell and the marsh froze. This lead to several infantrist lines managing to cross the line with heavy casualties. Close quarter combat ensued where the bayonet, shovels and fist was the weapons of choice. The riflemen managed to take the Stalinist lines, but was fatigued and was soon driven back by a Stalinist counterattack. The assault had once again been blown off to a halt. Golikov and his 6th Army was starting to become desperate. But the supply situation of the enemy was critical and it was decided they would wear them out and let them succumb to the cold and diseases before they would roll over them with their armor.

The Battle of Kursk, one of the defining battles.

On the Belarus and Ukranian Fronts things was going well. The material destruction the Stalinists faced was tremendous. The "Moscow's Proletarian Motorised Rifle Division" managed to cut through the enemy lines in tandem with other mechanized corps and motorised divisions. The city of Kursk was taken with just under 50.000 Stalinist troops being encircled. If these divisions would fall it would be a tremendous blow to the Stalinist war effort. The trapped Stalinist divisions hoped for their fellow brethren to break the encirclement, which was not likely at all due to the main force retreating eastward. Still they dug in and fought with tooth and nail and wouldn't surrender until they was faced with a total destruction. Trotsky announced this news with great anticipation claiming the Russian people had risen up against their capitalist oppressors, and now that Kursk was taken the road to Stalingrad was open.

The situation as of the 1st of November 1938. The eastern front is doing much poorer than anticipated.

The month turned into November and general winter had joined the war. The Ukranian, Moscow and Belarus Front saw great successes, but the assault from Crimea was assaulted. The Leningrad Front didn't fare much better with facing a wall of entrenched enemies. Meanwhile the Turkestan Front was out of supplies and was unable to move into the enemy territory. But perhaps greatest factor of the minor successes was the general lack of equipment in the Red Army and the poor leadership. Many Soviet soldiers had to go out to war without a rifle or without ammunition and had to wait for their brother in arms to fall to pick up his rifle. And the purges of both Stalin and Trotsky had left a major hole in the Soviet officer corps leading to many incompetent officers taking command and leading to poor coordination between them. Even Soviet radios proved to be in a poor state, and those who had them relied upon a too complex coding system which lead to more disadvantages than advantages. The Soviets also suffered high losses and desertion to the Stalinists, this led to many new recruits with minimal training joining the ranks only to be mowed down by machine guns. The war had raged on for 21 days and thousands had fallen on both sides and entire areas had been level by armored advances, machine gun fire, artillery and strategical bombing. It was now appereant for the whole world that the Soviet Armed Forces had suffered under the many purges and overexpansion. The question remained on how long the war would continue and if Germany or Japan would take advantage of the internal strife - afterall Trotsky had personally made the large gamble to leave the western borders defenseless. But the war had just started and many more would be sacrificed for Trotsky and the Permament Revolution.

A new batch of recruits blissfully ignorant of the realities of war.

-----

*There is no marines soldiers ingame, so it is just fantasy that naval infantrists participated, but there might be formations marines to be created in the future.
**Again not rooted out in game, simply narrative.
***Mechanized Corps is the ingame armored divisions, and not necessairly two or more ingame mechanized infantry units.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 6: The End may Justify the Means, as long as there something that Justifies the End.

Soviet Mountaineers holding off the armored assault.

As October had turned into November General Gorbatov came under the attack of a Stalinist Mechanized Corps. Gorbatov had served with distinction during the First Russian Civil War being awarded the Order of the Red Banner. Following the war he would become a calvary officer, but was convicted as being an "enemy of the people" during the Great Purge. Following the Second Russian Civil War he was given command of the two remaining mountaineer divisions in the Caucasus. His two divisions would be undersupplied, but they managed to hold the lands in the Caucasian mountains. The mountains of Armenia proved to be unfavaroble for the tank formations that assaulted their positions. The men of the 47th mountain division held their ground even pushing forward at several occasions. The assault by the mechanized corps would last for about a week. The 47th Division inflicted great casualties upon their attackers despite their precarious supply situation. The Transcaucasian Front was holding for now.

They way to Krasnodar finally opened up!

By the the onset of November the Stalinist rifle division that held the marches outside of Krasnodar finally withdrew. They had retreated to take part in the defense of Rostov. Early morning of the fourth of November the 6th Army could finally advance. The 3rd Calvary Division would take control of the nearby port while the rest of the army fanned out to advance on Krasnodar. The Soviets had weak intel on the nearby area and didn't know if Krasnodar was abandoned or fortified by other divisions. Still it was a great relief for the men of the 6th Army that the marches of Krasnodar was no longer contested.

Machinegunners overlooking no man's land.

A conscripted lmg shooter of the DP-27 was relieved as he wrote in his diary about the marches "the dead marshes have opened up. It was hellish terrain to fight in. Day after day we would be positioned behind our brink. It was fortified with mortars and heavy machine guns, before each attack artillery would bombard the enemy positions, but to little effect. The marches absorbed the firepower and the enemy knew we would be coming. When the whistle blew we all vaulted over the brink with our support weapons spraying out their death loads. But to little effect. We had to cross the marches and after a certain point we could no longer be covered by our support weapons, it was then the enemy fired. It was randomnized who got shot at and who didn't. It was by chance who got stuck in the mud and was a living target. It was hell, we had to keep ourselves moving for three seconds of a time. That was the time the enemy needed to find us, aim and fire in the open terrain. I had to lay down in the freezing water that emerged from all the gunshots and artillery shells, in turn the constant crawling around tore up my uniforms and then my skin and flesh. I fired a few rounds before I in return had massive fire directed at me. We gained ground, but every assault we was called back. We didn't manage to hold the marshes, meanwhile the enemy had fortified themself in the trenches by the tree line. Every attack was pointless and futile, I have no idea why they chose to give up this death zone, I am only relieved they did so".

We're closing in on Stalingrad in winter, what can go wrong?

In the north the many Soviet armies gained massive ground. Winter set it on the steppes around Stalingrad and the Stalinist armies was undersupplied as their port near Krasnodar fell and Rostov was under siege. As the snow fell and temperatures reach sub-zero the Stalinist had little equipment to deal with the cold. Those who didn't fall to Soviet bullets did so to frostbite and hypothermia. Men in tanks would be heated up to extreme temperatures in their machines, but if they broke down or got shot at or had to vacate, the extreme cold turned their sweat to ice. The soldiers marching wasn't doing much better. Being only outfitted with cotton and thin boots their uniforms would be soaked in sweat, blood and snow. Their hands wasn't always covered a great disadvantage when handling weapons made of iron and steel. The Stalinist suffered hellish conditions undersupplied and many defected to the Soviets, deserted or committed suicide. Meanwhile the plains near Stalingrad proved to be to a great advantage of the Soviet bombers, Mechanized corps and motorised rifle divisions. Several pockets was created by the aggressive armored and motorised divisions who exploited holes in the enemy lines. The Stalinist forces caught in these pockets would face fates worse than death. The Soviets also used the doctrine of maskirovka to great effect by employing white camoflague, blending into the natural enviorment. In the opening days of November thousands of Stalinists would lose their life, not to speak of the around 50.000 who were caught in the Kurks pocket. The road to Stalingrad was opened, and the Moscow Front reached the Volga river itself.

Calvary fighting calvary in the streets of Krasnodar. With helpful support of machine guns and armor of course.

On the evening of the 7th the 6th Army reached Krasnodar. The lone calvary division holding the city was helplessly undermanned, supplied and isolated. In an effort to break out the siege and inevitable onslaught they launched a surprise attack across the river toward the 3rd Calvary Division. Their commander wanted to die with honor and dignity in what he believed would be an epic clash between calvary as in the days of the old. But the Soviet calvarists withdrew. Instead a Rifle Division took position across the river and fired with massive fire from their artillery, machine guns and even anti-aircraft guns. The anticipated calvary charge was consumed by industrial warfare, meanwhile two other rifle divisions attacked the city itself. The Stalinists who held the city was in great disarray and would fall to the advancing forces. A Soviet commander noted "praise the higher powers for the defenders choosing a reckless attack. We could now almost parade into the city instead of being bogged down in close quarters, the worst nightmare of every soldier". But the city would not fall so easily. A prolonged urban battle commenced that would put both sides to their limits.

Encirclements seem to be a thing on the Russian steppes, and bitter urban combat.

Another 11 days went by and the Soviets advance seemed unstoppable. The Soviets and Trotsky himself said it was evidence of the moral superiority of the Soviet Union and their operational prowess. It is a grain of truth in this, but the Soviets made several blunders during their advance, mostly due to a politicalization of the army and many purges. But the greatest contributor to the collapse of the Stalinists was their logistical situation. The Black Sea was dominated by the Soviets with the entire Stalinist merchant fleet being sunk, furthermore one of their two ports had fallen and their second one wa sunder siege. It didn't help much by the Soviets having air superiority. These conditions was perfect for the Soviet concept for deep battle and the flat terrain was taken advantage of. Many more pockets were created isolating several Stalinist divisions. Village after village was taken and the Stalinist soldiers cut off found themself in a hopelss situation. One of them wrote "it was hopeless. The constant shelling and weeks of killing and death was making us tired of life and turned us to shells. We only waited for the Trotskyist to take us, but they never came. Constant mock attacks, constant shelling or bombs being dropped down from the skies. It was driving us mad. Yet we held our ground, we heard stories of what they did to the "enemy of the workers" as they named us and our villages was lost to the Trotskyists. We merely existed and waited until we were either killed or relieved. Whatever happened didn't matter, we merely wanted to end our suffering one way or the other".

The Germans most be thrilled.

While the fighting raged on in Russia another war took place in the Balkans. Italy had close bonds with Germany and saw their war against the Little Entente as a threat to their sphere of influence, but also as an opportunity. Italy and Germany formally created an alliance and Italy was gearing for war. It was only a matter of time before Italy joined the war against the Little Entente to take their claimed territory - and to be the bulwark against what they deemed the Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy.

Bombs away.

The Soviet siege of Rostov created a few interesting issues. First of was a refugee crisis as people all over Stalinist Russia, especially those who could be associated with the new oligarch elite, traveled down the Volga hoping to flee. In addition the government of Konev saw the futility of their situation and started a campaign of bombing Iran and Turkey and released propaganda and documents detailing Soviet plans of invading and controlling the middle east. They hoped this would provoke said nations to intervene in the war against the USSR, but most importantly the UK and her allies, Poland counting among them. They hoped for an invasion in the soft underbelly of the USSR and from Poland into Ukraine and Belarus. Instead the plan backfired. British and French bombers based in the middle east bombed the Stalinist oilfields crippling their economy and war effort. Their pretex was to stop Russian oil exports to Germany. Trotsky condemned this action strongly officially, but was likely to be content on his enemies industry being crippled.**

The reclamation of Rostov.

Around the 16th the port city of Rostov fell after heavy fighting. The city itself had been encircled for about a week and was bombarded from land, sea and air. The Stalinists tried to break out of the encirclement, but the Soviet armored units pushed them back and into the city. Days of brutal streetfighting took place, but the defenders eventually gave up. Starved, tired and out of ammunition. This was a major blow to Ivan Konev and the Stalinist loyalists. Their country was now completely isolated.

Soviet forces on the outskirts of Stalingrad.

Meanwhile the spearheads of Rokossovsky and Vasilevsky linked up outside of Stalingrad. The City of Stalin had been under daily and nightly bombing since the onset of the war, now the Red Army was just outside preparing to attack. The armored divisions would take on the fields of Stalingrad facing off the remaining Stalinist armors and enplacements and scouting the area for weak points. The motorised infantrists poured into the trenches to take control of the surrounding areas. The Stalinists meanwhile fought with tooth and nail for the city of their martyred leader. Knowing this would likely be their final stance they gave everything they had, the opposition was stiff and Stalingrad proved it would not fall so easily.

The Eastern Front had to be given up, will purges of incompetence follow?

On the eastern front the advancing armies had come to a standstill. The divisions there had much greater logistical problems and the communication lines wasn't that developed in this farway land. Instead attack after attack failed as they Soviets went straight into Stalinist defensive lines with bad intel and little ammunition. A Stalinist soldier wrote in his diary "the Trotskyists must have been blinded or driven to insanity by their despot. They just came onto us, wave after wave. We mowed them down without any effort". By the 19th Trotsky understood the futility of the situation and called for a pause in the offensive to let the Leningrad Front be replenished. He also gave them a warning "fail the revolution again and we might suspect your loyalties".

With Rostov and Krasnodar taken, all we're needed to do is to walk straight to the Caucasus..

Early morning of the 21st Krasnodar fell. What seemed to be a walk in the park following the calvary attack prove to be just another mass grave. The defenders of Krasnodar was reinforced by one infantry division and one mechanised corps. For the first time in the war armor went against armor in urban enviorment. The tanks proved to be able to pin down several infantry formations in the streets acting as mobile machine gun nests. But they had little control of the surrounding areas and buildings and would often be set ablaze by molotov cocktails or by flanking anti-tank teams. The disadvantages of armor in urban enviorments was showcased firsthand by both sides, but both refused to learn from their lessons and kept on the attacks. By the 21st the Stalinists retreated toward the Caucasus while the Soviets pursued them. The entire city was razed turned into smoldering ruins.

Russian forces mounting a desperate defense of Stalingrad, against the Soviets.

Five days following the conquest or liberation, depending on who you ask, of Krasnodar the Soviet forces was progressing toward Stalingrad. The city itself could be seen in the horizon along with the smoke from the numerous fires in the city. The Stalinist defenders, who was called the "White Army" by Soviet propaganda, had dug in around their provisional capital. However most of these defenses were static and proved to be of little match of Soviet armor, guns and the newly developed close air support bombers. The static lines soon collapsed from the accurate firepower of the Soviet forces and Ivan Konev called this collapse for "elastic defense". In truth it was just a coverup. A Stalinist soldier said to his captors "they named it elastic defense and tactical withdrawals to make it look like we were still in control. But we knew we were losing on every front, and you took advantage of it. By the front we were under fire from machine guns, by our flanks armor penetrated the lines and in our rear your bombers hit us. We were trapped and we knew it". Soviet forces would battle fiercly with their fellow countrymen over the outskirts of Stalingrad - both believed it would lead to a close end to the war. But the fights for the trenches outside of Stalingrad would take several days. The fixed positions proved to be of no match of the cordinated attacks by the Soviet, but the remnants proved to be deadly. They was equiped with anti-tank rifles and recoiless rifles. These were out of sight and knocked out a tank or two before being taken out themself. Others were pretending to be dead before setting off several grenades or mines. There was also plenty of marksmen taking out exposed and lone men, causing chaos amidst Soviet ranks. The Soviets called them cowards, the Stalinist themself said it was necessairy in their defense. It would be a forewarning on what was to come.

Battered Romanian troops give up after a long trial. And the rightful territory of Bessarabia is in Nazi Hands!

During November the worn out Romanian forces finally collapsed. Since the Germans took the mountains of Transylvania the Romanians lost their natural defenses. The Romanians launched many attacks to retake those mountains, but persistence proved to not be the key to success. The Romanians lost to superior positions and firepower and became worn out. For every battle they lost they became more demoralised and soon members of the Iron Guard was appointed to the government to prevent a fascist coup. It was hoped this would still the fascist elements in the population, but it only emboldened them. The Germans launched a new and deadly offensive in mid of November. In mere hours thousands of Romanians perished to German MG34, Panzer IIIs and Stukas. When the Germans neared the capital the Iron Guard took power and forced King Carol II. to abdicate. Most of the military failures was blamed upon the now unpopular king and the French. The Romanin troops defending the capital was simply ordered to not do so and Romania capitulated. This put them at a crisis with the Soviet Union who saw the Germans sharing a direct border with them and especially the new naval bases in Bessarabia as a threat. Trotsky wanted to liberate Romania, but the realities of the civil war came into play and an invasion of Romania was called off. Instead several NKVD agents inflitrated Hungary to support the communists there with arms, weapons and men. The Hungrians found themself isolated after they faile to support Hitler in his conquest of Czechoslovakia and Romania. The Germans refused to grant the Hungarians the land they coveted and the popularity for Horthy plummeted while the Germans was seen as a threat.*

We got some obstacles on our walk to the Caucasus.

With the areas fully secured around Krasnodar the 6th Army was again on the offensive with five full days of rest. Two major battles ensued, one nortwest of Krasnodar and one on the southwest. The former would be easily won, but the latter was against a well entrenched mechanized corps. The mechanized corps was blocking the way toward the Caucaus Front and the oil. The 6th Army would either need to wait for northern forces to relieve them or sacrifice several waves of men in the Caucasus.

The bitter streetfights of Stalingrad.

The first Soviet forces also entered Stalingrad on the 26th. They believed they was to face little opposition and that the civilians would embrace their liberators. Instead they was treated as occupiers and conquerers. The city itself was unrecognizable, nothing but ruins and despair. Horrible close quarter combat took place amidst the severe winter. An entire city was to be cleared where the enemy was deeply entrenched and the locals was opposed to the Red Army. A late private wrote in his diary "it was nervewrecking. Everywhere we went we feared to be hit by a sniper or find come under fire from machine guns. And the odds was massively against us. If we was to take out a building with only three enemies we needed 30 or more. They knew we were coming in and directed the guns straight at us. It was claustrophobic and hellish. The other day we stormed an office complex, but the main hall was dominated by a lone machine gun. It spread out its fire in long bursts and many good men fell to the bullets who went through the walls and ricocheted. The enemies was trapped and fought like feral animals. Around 14 men died taking out only one man, and we had to fight our way through the entire city. Room by room. Corridor by corridor. Building by building.."

Perhaps they will be able to break out?

While the Stalinists was occupied holding off the 6th Army and coming to the defense of Stalingrad the Caucasus Front was ordered to make their advance toward Baku and Tbilisi. It was of outmost importance to take the oilfields, and a major propaganda victory to take the homeland of Stalin. But where Trotsky and the brass of the Red Army ordered an offensive, the men in Armenia was unable to move forward. Out of fuel and horses it was difficult to advance. The 47th Division had also for almost a month been under attack from a mechanized corps and was fatigued. The order was given, but the divisions was unable to carry them out.

Stalingrad is taken, the city of Stalin has fallen. Is this the end of the Stalinists?

On the 29th just before the month was to turn the Soviet forces declared victory. Stalingrad was taken. The city Stalin had defended and got named after himself had faced complete destruction. Thousands of both sides perished and would forever be buried by the rubble or deep snow. Outside of Stalingrad horrible sights awaited those who ventured there, thousands of corpses laid strewn around frozen to ice. A testimony to the horrors of war and brutality of men. But the capitulation of the Stalinists did not come. Konev and his government had fled days prior to the city of Uralsk in Kazakhstan. There they would continue the fight and even ordered a general assault to push the Soviets back over the Volga. The assault itself would be futile, but it would stall the Soviets from advancing.

No need for submarines when you got a whooping number of three bombers!

Stalingrad fell and 6 Stalinists submarines sunk. With no port to locate to the subs had no means of supply and chain of command. The few remaining subs dared to attack a handful of merchant ships. It would have been a walk in the park, but only three Soviet naval bombers managed to take out 6 of 10 submarines. It showed just how low the Stalinist fleet had sunk, and that it had no hope of reover.

Soviet forces fighting in December.

November ended. The sins was washed away, and the blood covered up by the snow. But where one might have hoped for an end to the war it continued. The Stalinist mounted a desperate attack upon the Soviets, but the Soviets stayed in their trenches. Thousands had already died, and thousands more would die as the Soviets advanced toward Kazakhstan. But Trotsky spoke to his people on the 1st of December: "The end may justify the means, as long as there something that justifies the end. And that is where Stalin failed us all. His cause was himself. Not the Soviet Union or the welfare of the workers, but the welfare of himself. The injustice caught up with him. Let Stalingrad be a testimony of his hubris. Ruined by his personal ambitions where thousands suffered needlessly. I only ask you all to continue a little longer. To march toward Uralsk to cleanse us of degenerate workers. We will endure this trial. Just as we endured the Tsarist Regime. As we endured the February and October Revolutions. As we endured the Civil War together, and now we will endure and overcome this civil war. It is all soon over and we will come into a new age, an age of true socialism in all of the world. Let us march toward Uralsk and victory, for a better tomorrow".

----
*I started to boost party popularity in hungary. And they haven't joined the Axis - yet.
**Of course this didn't happen. But the allies did have a plan to bomb Soviet oilfields. So here they did it against the Stalinists. Poland did join the Allies which is the British Empire.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 7: I like my Beer cold, my Coffee hot, my Revolution - Permament.

Surely the Japanese will fall soon?

While the eyes of the world was fixed on Europe and in Russia the Japanese advanced during the western distractions. When the Japanese took the Chinese capital of Nanjing (Nanking) they committed unspeakeble acts for six weeks. These events unfolded itself while the entire international community stood by and watched. It shook the world to its core and the US would soon embargo the Empire of Japan depriving them of oil supplies. Trotsky and the Politburo was concerned with Japan growing in strength and that the Chinese Soviet Republic would fall. They wanted to help out the Chinese with arms and troops, but was afraid it would lead to a general war with Japand and Germany - the Red Army was simply not capable of fighting a civil war and the Wehrmacht and Imperial Army of Japan at once. A high ranking official would later remark "my greatest remorse is that we failed to act during their time of need". China seemed to be on its own.

The glorious Kazakhstan offensive.

The 10th of December Lieutenant-General Yakov Cherevichenko finally* managed to launch his assault into Kazakhstan. This was his trial of fire as a commanding general and he had high motivations and expectations. The men of the Turkestan Front was predominately of central-Asian ethnicity and had been indotrinated by the collectivist propaganda and hoped Trotsky and his democracy meant for a new era for their people, one that wasn't dominated by what they deemed the Russian-centrist policies of Stalin. The general offensive was promising and it was hoped the combined southern (Turkestan Front), northern (Leningrad Front) and western (Moscow, Ukraine and Belarus Fronts) offensives into Uralsk would result in the complete destruction of the forces of Ivan Konev.

Row row row your boat. Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream.

The Stalinist navy grew desperate and disregarded the naval and aerial Soviet supremacy. The Stalinists managed to sink the Kharkov destroyer of the Leningrad-class. Despite the Red Fleet suffering the loss of its top of the line destroyer, the Stalinists lost seven submarines, having only a few submarines to threaten Soviet ship lines.

Close contact between Trotskyists and Stalinists.

The offensive of the Turkestan Front marked the start of a general offensive by all other fronts. Trotsky, who had made himself Marshal of the Soviet Union with political functions, gave out the order following the end of the Stalinist Offensive that the Red Army deserved a pause. The soldiers would restitute and recieve enough munitions and food for the next weeks. By the 10th a general offensie was ordered with the Stalinist losing ground on every front. The Soviets had renewed strength from their battle pause and the news of the fall of Stalingrad. The forces of Ivan Konev on the otherhand was exhausted from constant battle, lack of supply and their failed offensive. The lines broke down all over the war and while they still maintained officially the doctrine of elastic defensive it was in reality a disorderly retreat. Still the Stalinist forces fought to the bitter end, often without ammunition which lead to outright brawls.

The Frenchies stand alone, are they to be fried next?

During December the situation of the Yugoslavs deteriorated. Following the fall of Romania the Germans started to Blitz their way into Serbia proper and headed toward the capital of Belgrade. In addition the German troops stationed in Austria was given the green light to invade Slovenia and liberate Crotia. This naturally spread the Yugoslav forces out thin and their fate was sealed when Italy invaded the Dalmatian coast and Slovenia. In just two weeks the entire Yugoslav Army and the impressive French expeditionary force fell to the Axis aggressors. The Little Entente was no more, the Balkans had been tamed - France was now on her own.

Italian troops assaulting the French alps.

Following the successes in the Balkans the Italians invaded France. France had neglected (but built an impressive fortification system) their Italian border as they believed Germany would invade France through Belgium as during the Great War. Instead two hours past midnight local time during the 17th of December the Italians started their invasion of France. 300.000 Italians would scale the French alps and the Battle of the Alps had started. The French was taken by complete surprise, not only because they anticipated a German assault, but it was illogical to assault the Alps during winter. But the Germans had proven in their "Blitzkrieg" that doing the unexpected and illogical was the key to success. France had now lost her allies, thousands of troops in the Balkans and faced an invasion from the south. Meanwhile the Germans threatened her eastern borders. France looked toward Britain for help, but Chamberlain refused to participate in the war they had eagerly jumped into. France was truly alone.

Russian soldiers who simply had gotten enough.

The winter of 1938 was harsh for the undersupplied Stalinist forces. The rapid and ruthless Soviet offensive inflicted defeat after defeat upon the forces of Ivan Konev. The Soviets would also inflitrate the enemy with several NKVD agents who would spread propaganda and bombers would drop propaganda leaflets aswell. One of them read "why fight against your fellow countrymen? Do your patriotic duty and return safe to your family, with your belly full of meat in front of a warm fireplace". Stalinist soldiers simply deserted or surrendered in the thousands to the advancing Soviet forces. Some even took up arms in open rebellion and setting up Soviets of their own - heavily influenced and armed by Soviet agents. The war would soon come to an end.

The battleships still reign supreme.

For the first time of the war the Soviet battleships would engage in open combat. The result was two minor skirmishes that sunk the last of the Stalinist submarines. This was used in Soviet propaganda films showing the might of her battleships. The Battle of teh Black Sea had come to an end.

The Leningrad Front during the final offensive for Uralsk.

By the 18th the city of Uralsk ws completely surrounded from all sides. The provisional capital was attempted to be reinforced by the Stalinist forces in the east, but they were eaten destroyed by the Leningrad and Turkestan Fronts or simply refused to move** and threw away their arms, returning to their farms and towns. Rokossovsky would be granted the honor of spearheading the assault on the city itself. The battles were tough and the winter was harsh. But in two days the city was taken. The Soviets lost several men and tanks in the attck, but it was nothing compared to Stalingrad in terms of neither ferocity nor defensive capabilities. When Rokossovky and Tukhachevsky reached the headquarters of the Stalinist they found that Ivan Konev, Rodion Malinovsky, Boris Shaposhnikov and Nikolai Vatutin had all committed suicide. The last bastion of the Stalinist was taken.

Trotsky chilling with a comrade upon hearing the news of the victory. Soon he inspected his troops by the front.

Trotsky was on a trip in the more temperate zones in the Caucaus when he was given the news: the war is over. He soon took the trip over to Uralsk and inspected the troops there who had taken the city and accepted the surrender of the Stalinist government. The last officials in the Stalinist camp was trialed for treason and crimes against the workers. The war was over. Trotsky reigned supreme.

The remnants of the war.

The war was over and much of Russia laid in ruins. The two armies alone suffered over 162.000 casualties, the civilian population many more. Before the war the USSR had 111 Rifle Divisions, 22 Calvary Divisions, 11 Mechanized Corps, 13 Mountaineer Divisions and 7 Motorised Rifle Divisions. Alltough the losses had been replinished by the recruitment of several new units the Red Army lagged behind their pre-war strenght. The Red Fleet had also suffered with losing many of its submarines to desertion along with their destroyers. War was creeping in on the USSR from the east and west and Trotsky would need to re-arm at haste.

At least we can agree upon beer and coffee.

The guns stilled and the sun rose anew over the USSR coming with promises of a better future. But Trotsky and the Red Army warned that this was only the beginning. They claimed the revolution would be spread all over the world by the tip of the Soviet bayonet. Trotsky also made the ironic remark of "I like my beer - cold. My coffee - hot. And my revolution - permament". This all signalled a new and more aggressive Soviet Union who was not afraid to export their ideas. Since the Fourth International the Trotskyist had already inflitrated the French socialists and communist from Spain and training them for an eventual revolution. A new era came with Trotsky. But for now he had to solve the last of the internal problems, such as rehabilitating the purged officer corps.

-----

*The AI never managed to move their troops there, so I had to micromanage them in the end.
**Some of the Russian troops was just sitting on the eastern border the whole time, not going to the defense of its fronts nor attacking me.

Also the screenshots of the offensives was lost. But basically the forces from Ukraine was split between going to Uralsks and the Caucasus. By the 18th (around the time of the last sea battle) the Soviet troops of Armenia and Ukraine linked up. The Leningrad/Eastern Front also managed to make gains and Uralsk was attacked by the Belarus, Ukraine, Moscow and Leningrad fronts and all of December was basically a walk in the park.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 8: The Revolutionary Fires will reach the entire Continent.

Trotsky planning his next steps.

On New Year's Eve Trotsky held a public speech in Leningrad and laid out his plans for all of Russia and the world to hear. He urged reconciliation and wanted the nation to start a process of national healing. The leader of the USSR continued with laying out his agenda to decentralise the Soviet Union, remove the tsarist bureaucracy founded by Stalin and bringing welfare and prosperity to the workers of the Union. He announced that the 8 hour workday would again be in effect and that peasants was now allowed to be given passports and to leave their farms. He then made vague promises of democrcy in the USSR. This led to left leaning western commentators and jouranlists praising him for his move toward an open society. However most were concerned by his other part of the speech. That of the promises of a world revolution. The talk of the Red Army would spread socialism by the tip of their bayonets concerned many - especially the Polish who had already been under attack by the Soviet Union mere two decades earlier. It didn't help much when Tukhachevsky made the announcement that "with Comrade Trotsky once more behind the helm the revolutionary fires will reach the entire continent". This was of obvious concern to democrats and fascists alike.

Trotsky saw much potential in Vershinin.

One of the first things on the agenda of Trotsky was to reform the military. He saw great potential of the commander of the 4th Air Army. On the 9th of January Konstantin Vershinin was made the Chief marshal of aviation. Quite a step from his humble origins of working at a sawmill.

The despot is gone and now Trotsky the people are truly in power!

By the end of January major efforts was made to make Trotsky look like the hero of the revolution, heir of Lenin and liberator of Europe. Emphasis was put on Stalin being a pseudo-Tsar and gravedigger of the revolution was removed from power, and that Trotsky and his supporters had restored true power to the people of the Soviet Union. Beside this cult of personality, ironic as that was one of the main critics against Stalin, the Soviet people was braced upon their eventual role in spreading socialism and true democracy (whatever that is) to the rest of Europe. And so was the workers of the world.

Workers of the world wanna join in on the revolution.

Italy, Hungary, France, the Benelux, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom and Ireland saw large amounts of uprisings following the ascension of Trotsky. The Fourth International absorbed the Third International and the Soviet Union dictated the communist parties of Europe to take a more aggressive stance toward their governments and pursuing a revolution. USSR also ordered the Trotskyists of Europe to inflitrate the many social-democratic parties and trade unions to radicalise them further. This led to many strikes and unrest all of over Europe, but France and Hungary was hit the hardest and the situation was getting out of hand in these nations.*

Mussolini's first step on recreating the Roman Empire.

By the 26th of January Italy launched a surprise attack on Albania. King Zog I. was alerted that an attack might happen, but didn't know when. The Italians positioned a fleet by the coast of Albania on the 26th and invaded the small nation. It took less than 24 hours for Italy to submit Albania to their imperial ambitions. The Italians wanted to acquire Albania for strategical and ideological reasons. First off Albania held the coveted port of Vlorë and the island of Sazan to dominate the Adriatic Sea. Secondly Italian nationalism and irredentism demanded that Albania should be united with Italy on the vague grounds of the area once being part of the Roman Empire. Lastly Italy saw itself becoming the junior partner of the Pact of Steel (alliance with Germany) after Germany annexed Austria, Yugoslavia and Romania who Italy had enviosened as being part of their sphere of influence and having liberated Crotia - who again held the coast of Dalmatia who Italy laid claims on. This led to the Italian invasion and subsequent annexation of Albania where the latter would nominally become a seperate kingdom in a Union under Italy.

German and Japanese imperalists conspiring against the free people of the USSR.

The Anti-Comitern Pact had been signed on the 25th of 1936. The Pact was mainly between Germany and Japan and was meant to be a defensive pact against the Comitern in general and the USSR specifically. This pact would later merge with the Pact of Steel to create the Axis. Other nations soon followed. Those nations was basically the ones occupied by Germany, Japan and Italy but Hungary under Horthy soon joined due to the growing communist threat they faced.**

Expansion in the Baltics suddenly became... complicated.

But following the rise of Trotsky to power and the increasing aggressive rethorics by the Soviet government and Red Army the governments of Germany and Japan decided to formalise the Anti-Soviet Agreement. This was basically an extension of the Anti-Comitern pact to the Baltic nations and to specifically mention the USSR and not just communism as a whole. Despite the Nazis having aggressively expanded through Europe the Baltic nations held the opinion that France had a shared responsibility in that great tragedy. Moreover they saw Trotsky as the continuation of Lenin. A man who was not afraid to expand through force and disregard to international laws - something they had proven before. The nations of Finland, Latvia and Estonia joined together with Japan and Germany and their occupied territories to sign the Anti-Soviet Pact. This promised that if one of the nations was attacked or invaded by the USSR they would count it as being an attack on them all. Japan and Germany was the protector against communism. Lithuania was also invited to the Pact, but they said they didn't want to provoke the USSR into action and instead relied on diplomacy. This Anti-Soviet Pact was seen as a direct attack against the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union subsequently announced their efforts to open up Soviet society needed to come to a halt, a war time dictatorship as being introduced by Lenin needed to be enforced until the enemies of the workers had been dealt with.

First they take Luxembourg, then Paris.

In early February the Italians broke through the Alpine-Lines of France. The French was certain history would repeat itself and positioned a large concentration of troops along the Maginot-Line and the newly created Belgian-Line. Despite the Italians advancing through the usually idyllic French Riviera the French committed their troops along the German borders and around the major urban centers to prevent communist uprisings. While all this happened the Germans invaded Luxembourg. The tiny nation stood no chance and was conquered in 12 hours. France was now pressured on two fronts, in the south and in the east.

The Nazis was greedy this time, taking all of Poland by themself.

During February a crisis was set in motion between Poland and Germany. Germany and Poland had over the years developed several friendship treaties, but the Germans seemed bent on reclaiming their lost territory. First they offered to trade Slovakia and the Polish claimed areas in Czechoslovakia for Danzig promising to give up their other claims. But Poland refused. Poland had been given reassurance by Britain than in case of war they would come to their aid. Furthmore the Polish believed that Germany had to be incapable of fighting a two front war after their bloody conquest of the Balkans. The Germans then outright demanded Danzig or else they would declare war. The Polish declined this too. Then just two hours past midnight of the 1st of March the Germans invaded Poland. 1.5 million Germans would assault Poland by the two army groups of north and south led by Fedor von Bock and Gerd von Rundstedt respectively and composed of seasoned troops from the conquests of the Little Entente. Days later the UK held true to their guarantee and declared war on Germany. What started as a regional war had now truly escalated into the Second World War. The Germans needed to desperately take Poland and France before Britain landed their forces.

Keep them coming.

By March the purged officer corps of the Soviet Union was slowly recovering. New cadets and officers joined the ranks of the Red Army, but the Soviet forces still suffered from their purges and the Soviet command was getting worried of a new war. Some had pressed the Red Army and Trotsky to come to the aid of Poland during their assault, or at least to reclaim the Belarussian and Ukranian lands lost to Poland. Trotsky answered that they would stand in solidarity with the workers of the world and not capitalists and cater nationalism. In truth Trotsky, the Red Army and the Soviet government knew they couldn't afford a war with Germany and Japan at the moment. Those who was publically opposed to this.. disappeared..

Posen-East Prussia exchange?

The German invasion of Poland apperead to stagnate. Posen fell relatively quickly, but the British managed to run through to strait of Denmark and land several troops in Danzig. The British reinforcements was tasked with holding the Danzig corridor, this lead to the Polish being able to more effectively protect their land areas and even pushed into East Prussia. Furhter troops could be sent to the western front as the Soviets assured the Polish they would not assault the young state. Had Hitler been too greedy?

The taint of Stalinism you mean?

With Trotsky's position as the true leader of the USSR and the ideology of the Permament Revolution imprinted among the Soviet people efforts was made to rehabilitate the armed forces of the Soviet Union. Some wanted the NKVD to purge the uncertain elements of the Red Army and to keep them under a watchful eye. Trotsky replied "then we would be no better than Stalin". This meant officers such as Marshal Voroshilov who had been key supporters of Stalin and even participated in the purges would be rehabilitated and forgiven for their crimes. Other generals such as Aleksandr Vasilevsky would be rewarded for their loyalty and their prowess during the civil war. He would also become a member of the high command of the Red Army proving to be a capable reformer.

Some of the victims of Trotsky - and Stalin.

That isn't to say the hands of Trotsky and his supporters was without blood. Several generals and politicians had been purged or fallen in battle. Among them several capable officers and reformers, they would have been a welcome addition to the Red Army, Fleet and Air Force but was deemed to risky. As the worst elements had been removed, it was believed the remainder of the Soviet Armed Forces could be rehabilitated

Hopefully the new divisions will get their supplies in time.

The Red Army also saw the need of further reforms. The Rifle Divisions would now be supported by a full artillery regiment and a brigade of anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns. Moreover they would be supported by engineer and sapper battalions, recon, signal and medic battalions. The Rifle Divisions was planned to be supported by a further Artillery Regiment and Anti-Tank Battalion in the future, but the current ranks needed to be filled first. The Motorised Rifle Divisions would be granted a regiment of light and calvary armor, in addition to engineer and sapper battalions, recon, signal and medic battalions and an artillery battalion. The paratrooper regiments would be expanded to brigade size complemented with recon and engineer battalions. However most of the equipment was not yet produced, so for the time most of these divisions were undersupplied.***

With commanders like these we will take the world by storm.

For his efforts in the Civil War Vladimir Kasatonov was made part of the Naval General Staff and made several reforms to further the Soviet submarine arm. Sergei Khudyoakov was of humble origins and worked on the Armenia oilfields before the first civil war. In '36 he graduated from the Military Air Academy and wold in '38 serve as Chief of Logistics Management Air Force. During the Second Civil War he would accelerated rapidly in the Soviet airforce and by April of 1939 he was made chief of staff of the Air Force and commander of the Western Air Force.

German panzers rolling over Poland.

Despite the Polish and British successes in Poland the German war machine could not be stopped. The plains of Poland was perfect for their armored formations, and due to the desperation of their situation many of the German generals acted indepedently of what the German High Command actually wanted. Had they followed their conservative WW1 approach they would have likely lost the war to British and Polish. Instead they adopted the tactics and operations they had made during the invasion of Czechoslovakia and the Balkns and made significant gains in western and southern Poland. The Blitzkrieg myth grew for every campaign.

Poland falls, are Greece to fallow?

While the British and Polish forces managed to hold the Danzig corridor and advance into East Prussia, they had completely neglected their southern front and Warsaw herself. By the 18th of April Warsaw fell. The Allies soon found their gains to be of little worth as they were encircled by the German forces who now advanced from the south. As that happened the Germans in East Prussia and around the Danzig corridor made significant advances. Appereantly the British and Polish successes was nothing but a ruse to lure them out of their defensive postures. In the exposed terrain the Allies was attacked from all fronts and soon fell to the sheer pressure from the Germans. Poland had fallen, and a month before its fall Italian, German and Crotian troops invaded Greece.

The race for France between Germany, Italy and Russia.

In June when the French believed the Germans was occupied taking on Poland and the British having their troops in Poland the Wehrmacht did the unexpected; they attacked the Maginot Line head on. The fortifications proved to be impressive, but the defenders proved to be inflexible and the Maginot line was broken the second of June. The French was in complete disarray, wasn't the Germans meant to come through from Belgium as in 1914? Instead the Germans had sent several of their divisions to the southern front and spearheaded the Italian invasion while they also attacked the Maginot Line. France was about to fall. This lead to panick not only among the French population but also the Soviet government. Significant resources had been put into raising the support for socialists and communists in France. Now the NKVD was tasked with working with the French communists in the pyrenees and the urban center to pull off a coup and lead the masses to victory over the borgouise before the Germans occupied all of France. The French communists and social democrats then announced that they wanted peace with the Germans, prepared to give up Alsace-Lorraine and leave the Little Entente to the Axis. This was of great irony as it was the French communists who had pushed the French Popular Front to war. Who would take control of France, the Axis or the Communists?****

Germany stand ready to conquer all of Europe.


It was six months into 1939. The world had changed in many ways. Trotsky came to power, but most importantly the Axis had formed an Anti-Soviet Pact in the Baltics, meanwhile they subjucated nation after nation under their rule. Would Germany be stopped in France, or would they proceed to take on all of Europe and perhaps the USSR itself?

-----

*This is of course all fantasy. But Hungary and France is hit "especially hard" due to me boosting the ideolgoy there. I also decided not to boost the ideologies of the allies or the axis, to make it more interesting.

**The anti-comitern pact really isn't anything in the game. But it was the foundation of the Axis. Hungary don't have the Anti-Soviet Pact.

***In HOI4 each of the support companies are really support battalions. The artillery/AA/AT battalions also have enough guns to be regiments and not battalions. I also try to create my divisions as according to historical divisions and not what is best game wise. After the new templates the divisions have massive deficits of support equipment, arty, AA and AT weapons. Hopefully they will be supplied before the war.

When the divisions get enoguh arty and AT guns I will complement them with an extra ing-game arty battalion and AT support company. Hopefully those guns will be able to hold off the Panzers. I also want to mimick the motorised divisions with the infantry ones, of course with self-propelled arty, tank killers etc instead. Same goes for mountaineers and armored divisions. But for now the artillery, AT/AA weapons and support companies are prioritized to the Rifle Divisions.

****So we now support a coup in France. This is a drastic measure that won't be abused. But it will be interesting to see if the French Communists rise up before they are conquered by Italy and Germany!

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 9: 1871 all over again.

Soon we will have all the doctrines.

Pressured from all fronts Trotsky and the Red Army saw the need to reorganize the military. It had started slowly after the civil war, but it would now start in earnest. Several top to bottom restructures were started and many manuevers and exercises was organized. The purpose was to create a more effective and flexible military while developing and adopting new doctrines.

As long as they leave some for us.

In the midst of their invasion of France, "Fall Gelb", the Third Reich positioned several divisions along the border of Lithuania. The small nation was pressured not only by the German troops, but the Anti-Soviet Pact to give up Memel to Germany. The result was given beforehand. Lithuania stood no chance against the might of the Reich and had to give up Memel. Would this be the final revision of the Versaille Treaty and the final territorial exchanges in the Baltics?

This should catch the Germans off guard.

The 27th of June saw the finalization of Project-26 or the Kirov Class Cruiser. It was a vast improvement over the lone Chervona Ukraina cruiser that was sunk during the civil war. One Kirov Class cruiser was ordered to replace the lost cruiser, while four more was ordered to bolster the Red Fleet. During the last wars and the reogranization of the military the A-32 medium tank concept was looked further into. It was decided the tank was to be developed further, especially in light of the relative poor performance of Soviet armor and the awesome display of armored warfare the Germans showed in France, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Several tests was conducted and the A-32 prototype was improved along with other versions. The medium armor concept would eventually be developed into what would be known as the T-34/76A which had a 76.2mm main gun, but lacked the diesel engine and had inferior clutches and transmissions due to shortages of said materials. Still it was an overall improvement over the current Soviet tank force.

The race for Paris intensifies.

By mid of July the remaining French forces around the Maginot Line was about to be enrcicled, while the Axis made massive gains in Metropolitan France. By the 23rd Italian and German forces reached the outskirts of Paris battling their way into the suburbs of the great metropolis. Meanwhile the French communists was gaining ground and the social-democrats was being radicalised. The population was literally split in half in the support of the Third Republic and the war. The communists and socilists advocated an immidiate end to the war and anti-war slogans such as "Why die for Sudetenland?" was heard in the streets of Paris. While the French soldiers was barely holding the lines against the ever advancing invaders, the streets of Paris and other urban centers sw a surge of violent protests, strikes and riots. The question remained if the Third French Republic would fall to the fascists or the communists first.

We welcome everyone who can the ranks of the cannonfodders.

The rehabilitation of the military and its ongoin reorganization proved to have measureble effects. New classes of competent and talented officers graduated and filled the ranks of the Soviet Armed Forces. Leon Trotsky himself attended to one of the graduation ceremonies and spoke highly of the new officers and how they were to be the spearhead of the new age. One of the cadets noted in his diary captivated by the oratory skills of Trotsky: "Never have I heard a more captivating speaker, rarely a more eloquently use of Russian than when he impressed the cadets. I am just a man, but what is comrade Trotsky? He is beyond question a great man, perhaps the greatest politican of them all". Trotsky had the absolute loyalty of the remaining old officer corps and the new officers.

France surrendering? Totally unexpected.

By the 10th of August German and Italian troops had completely surrounded the French capital. They prepared for a bloody and prolonged urban combat and several Heinkels and Stukas was on their way to pulverize the capital. Meanwhile countless of artillery guns had their guns directed at the capital, with SS troops and panzers ready to take the streets. Instead the French government surrendered. They would grant the Italian and German troops free passage into Paris and was ready to sign a peace treaty.

The Axis are suprisingly modest.

The Italians and Germans set the terms of the negotiations. The Armistice of 10th of August 1939 was signed in the same railwagon as where the Germans had to sign the Versaille Treaty. The Germans rose above their own humiliation by publically humiliating the French. In France proper they would give up the region of Alsace-Lorraine, or Elsass-Lothringen as it would be named once more, to the Germans. The Italians would be given the territories of Savoy and Corsica. However the latter two areas would be under a demilitarized zone before being handed over to the Italians the following year. Initially the Germans and Italians demanded a lot harsher terms to the French, where all of the former Holy Roman provinces of France was to be given to Germany. But the French representatives argued that doing so would only light up the revolutionary flames that was present in France and needed a stable government to combat these threats. The Pact of Steel reluctantly agreed to this. However France was to disarm itself and conscription was to be made illegal, in addition they would not be allowed to have a standing military force of more than 50.000 men and had to pay back all the war reperations the Germans had - and more. Germany had exacted her revenge over France.*

The great German Colonial Empire grows at the expense of the so called Roman Empire.

The Germans also pressed on to take all of the colonies that France had in Africa, the Middle East and Indochina. This upset the Italians, but they were promised control over Egypt, Libya, Palestine and Transjordan from the British. Germany had once more colonies, and this time one of the greatest colonial powers on earth - alltough these colonies was for now vacant of German officials and tropps. The French had been humiliated and the German pride restored. Germany now had only one power left to correct all the wrongs from the Versaille Treaty, the British Empire. To reclaim her former colonies. After that it was only one goal left for Germany to fulfill; Lebensraum. It apperead the Germans was destined to total domination.**

At least the Balkans will be quiet. For now.

The Balkans was partioned among the victors. The Indepeden State of Crotia would become, well, independent. Yugoslavia itself would lose Slovenia and Central Macedonia to Italy, Germany would rule Bosnia-Herzegovina as a protectorate and Serbia and Montenegro was made independent states aswell. Romania didn't face any revisions on her borders. However the remnants of Yugoslavia and Romania would for almost a year be under direct German occupation. Following the occupation period they was released as nominally indepeden states. However they had governments handpicked by the Germans and was in all but name dependant on the Germans and most of policies was dicated by the Reichskommissariats while the foreign policies was dictated by Berlin entirley. All of Czecoslovakia was annexed by Germany with Sudetenland being part of Germany proper and Bohemia-Moravia and Slovakia becoming two separate protectorates under Germany ruled by a German elite - in effect annexed.***

Sorry Italy, but you can't get it this time either.

The Armistice of Compiègne also showed the German domination in the Pact of Steel. The Italian nationalist had now, as during the Great War, hoped to gain all of the Dalmatian Coast. Germany on the other hand had other plans, Croatia was to be granted the Dalmatian Coast. Both Germany and Italy also coveted Slovenia, both seeing them as a natural part of Austria and Italy respectively. The Germans then forced through a "compromise" where Italy was given Slovenia and Croatia (who was again a German puppet) was given Dalmatia. Italy had again won the war, but lost the peace. But this time il Duce loyally bent his knees to the Führer.

Horthy what can you possibly gain from this?

Hungary hoped to sow discord in the Pact of Steel. The proto-fascist government under Miklos Horthy was deeply disillusioned they could not get a piece of the cake and was afraid of another Soviet Revolution. They reached out to Italy about renewing the Rome Protocols. The Rome Protocols was signed in 1934 between the three states of Italy, Austria and Hungary. It was mainly economical, but was also a means to contain German and Yugoslav revisionism and also to promote Italian and Hungarian revisionism. Hungary hoped Italy would leave the Pact of Steel and instead enter into a Pact of Rome following their own disillusion regarding the peace. Instead the Italians only agreed to the trade agreements and wouldn't aid the Hungarians in gaining any lands in Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia. Mussolini was firmly on the side of Hitler, and Horthy found himself isolated torn apart by monarchists, fascists, democrats and communists alike.****

Now the Germans will never be able to take on us!

Work on the Stalin Line first began in the 1920s. It was made out of several bunkers and gun emplacement, but was not a continuous line of fortification such as the Maginot Line. Instead it was more of a network of fortified areas meant channel a defender into designated corridors. Following the Fall of France and especailly Poland the Soviets saw the need to expand on this network of fortifications. Most of the line was by the Soviet-Polish border which was now in fact Soviet-German border and along the Anti-Soviet Pact members. The line would see a major expansion and would be used in propaganda as a proof of how the USSR provided work to all, and of course the Stalin Line was renamed to the Trotsky Line.

Denmark gets invaded, give up and France are once more at war.

The 26th of August German plans was leaked that they would soon strike Denmark. France, being threatened internally by communists and nationalists, guaranteed the indepence of the small nation. Germany obviously didn't take this seriously and invaded the small nation. Denmark itself gave up without a fight. France on the other hand still declared war and even sent the Foreign Legion to Norway, who was expected to be the real target, and hoped to reclaim Alsace-Lorraine, Savoy and Corsica. This time around the British sent an expeditionary force to France seeing that if France fell to Germany again, the treaty would be a lot harsher this time around. France who had already surrendered once found itself in the middle of a war yet again.

The Germans are blitzing toward France again.

France wasn't ready for the war at all. Commentators all around the world asked the question "what on earth are they doing?" and some even speculated it was a desperate attempt to get rid of the communists, some sort of suicide with dignity. The Germans fanned out of Elsass-Lothringen taking advantage of the lessons they learned from the previous campaign a mere month earlier and without having to take on the dreaded Maginot Line. This time however they faced opposition from the British Empire. But like in Poland they proved to be able to breakthrough the staunch British. Thousands would die on all sides, but the Germans proved to have superior arms and tactics and one and a half month after the second invasion of France they found themself on the outskirts of Paris. This time they didn't accept a surrender and bombarded Ville des Lumières, showing no mercy nd compassion. After days of non-stop bombardments, firing thousands of shells per minute, the German soldiers entered the city ready to subdue the French once and for all.

All in the name of the liberation of the workers of course..

By November the expansion of the Trotsky Line was finished (for now) and the Baltics was now in the focus. Specifically the Soviets argued to its own people and on the foreign arena that they had legitimate claims on the Baltics. The two Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia was under a direct threat from the Nazis, and only the USSR could save them. Lithuania had been forced to give up Memel or else they would face the same fate as Poland and the Little Entente. Latvia had been forced to sign the Anti-Soviet Pact in order to provoke a conflict with the USSR - on they were bound to lose. The Soviets also made arguments that the Baltics had always been a part of the Russian Empire and was populated by several Russians. Trotsky also made more ideological approaches by claiming the Baltic states had a large communist voterbase and an oppressed workforce that needed to be liberated. But the claims on these young nations was perhaps mostly for the Soviets to gain a buffer zone in the inevitable war against the Germans and acquire several hot water ports.

Very well, the Germans looks to have beaten us again.

The 10th of November the Germans started their attack unto Paris. They hoped for the French to give up as they in August. Instead the people of Paris rose up, took to arms and battled the Germans proclaiming the capital to be the Paris Commune, mirroring the German siege of Paris in 1871. In turn Paris was reinforced by several British brigades. The battle for Paris had just started. The fighting lasted for one week. It traumatized and wore out troops on both sides of the conflict. Paris fell, but France did not surrender this time. By the rest of November the French Army and Communists (supported by Spanish Republicans and International Brigades) and British alike fought around Paris trying to reclaim it from the advancing Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS. Despite numerous bombings from the German Stukas, the unlikely alliance did not waver for weeks. They found a common cause in opposition against the Germans. French, British and Communists alike. But the idyll didn't last. The French and British troops, and especially not the Communists was prepared for the winter of '39. By the onset of December the Germans managed to beat back the counterattck toward Paris and drove their panzers at full speed toward Calais. The British was ordered to retreat to Dunkirk and be evacuated. Faith saved these British men as the German army and Wehracht ordered their troops to halt before Dunkirk not to overextend their lines. This angered generals such as Guderian, but the Luftwaffe was to finish off the British. It was still believed the air forces could win wars alone. But the deteriorating winter weather made it difficult for the Luftwaffe to carry out their orders, and in an impressive act of solidarity numerous British sailors of all kinds came to the rescue of their countrymen. France was now on her own again. The path to Calais and total defeat was at hand.

This suddenly became very interesting!

But then French workers and farmers rose up in the thousands in southern and centrl France. The French police forces and army units there surrendered to the French Communists. In German and Italian occupied France the communists seized power in the vaccuum that was created by the advancing forces. What looked like a spontanous uprising was actually a wellplanned one. Since the end of the Spanish Civil War the French veterans from there had trained and armed communists in France. Trotskyists had even before that inflitrated the socialist party in France. The NKVD had also armed and trained French communists for years. They had built an army, and the army of the people now rose up in what remined of France led by Maurice Thorez. Promising an end to the war, poverty and employment for all.

Vive la révolution!

The Germans's and Italians's first instincts was to continue the war and treat the French communists as their enemy. But the Soviet Union was quick to make an alliance with the French Commune, in homage to the Paris Commune, and was the first nation to recognize the new French government. Soon Spain followed up declaring that they would come to the aid of their brothers and sisters if it was needed. The Soviet Union followed this up by mobilizing its forces and ordering them to their common borders with Germany and Romania. The Germans and Italians was now threatened by war from the USSR and Spain and risked an invasion from Great Britain. Neville Chamberlain was pleased, with the Soviet Union in the war the overall situation would be much more tolerable. But Germany and Italy backed down. Early morning of the 13th they withdrew their troops and respected the borders of France. In exchange the French Commune gave up their claims in Italian, German and colonial territories. Peace was achieved. For now.

The NKVD Belgian workers are ready to prove to domino theory.

The Soviet government found no time to rest on its laurels and recent developments. The Communist Party of Belgium was ordered to take a more aggressive stance and the inflitrators in the Belgian Workers' Party (social-democrats) took gradual control of the party and steered it toward radicalism. Furthermore NKVD agents, volunteers and French and Spanish agents inflitrated Belgium, spreading propaganda, organising strikes and trained, armed and funded Belgian revolutionaries. During Christmas of 1939 Trotsky held a speech where he said "the fires of revolution spread from Spain and cleansed it off the stank of fascism. It spread from Spain to the broken country of France and finally liberated the workers of France, and warded off the Nazi disease. It will now spread to the Low Countries who may at any moment be invaded by the Nazis or the Imperialists. Let this be a testimony of the Permament Revolution. Workers of the world, unite!" This was met by cheers from the Soviets who listened to it and revolutionaries all over the globe, but it led to Trotsky being the most feared person on earth, perhaps only surpassed by Hitler.

The Soviet industry are gearing towards war..

The fireworks on the Red Square stilled. The new year had been welcomed, a new year of hope and a promised red dawn. The Soviet Armed Forces was slowly pulling itself together and the industry had been booming under the emerging worker's culture and the more relaxed Five Years Plan. Was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ready to wage a war to spread Socialism or against Nazi aggression? Only time would tell, but optimism was an alltime high in the vast nation. Optimism that they were no longer alone, and that workers all over the world would unite.

-----

*France proper was left very much intact except for Alsace. I later gave Italy Savoy and Corsica through console commands, make no sense that they would not take these areas.

**The Screenshot is from a later date, so that is why some of the areas are occupied. Now Germany basically took all of the French colonies.

***Italy have claims on Dalmatia, but soon Croatia is an ally they kept it. At least they got Slovenia. Now Germany naturally annexed all eastern Europe. But I made the call it would be more realistic for these nations to be puppets instead. But this was after a while, so Germany had direct access to the factories and resources of these nations for a long time. But on the longterm I suspect having a German puppeted Great-Romania is more dangerous in the coming war..

****So the Rome Protocols was basically made so that Germany wouldn't annex Austria, but we all know how that went. Now Hungary can choose to go down the path to align themself with Germany and join the Axis or the Rome Protocols path. They chose the latter, and ingame it give Hungary better trade relations and relations in general with Austria and Italy. Later on it will lead to Hungary guaranteeing the indepence of Austria and then make a faction named the Pact of Rome composed of Hungary, Austria and Italy. Naturally that won't happen, so the whole thing about Hungary wanting to split Italy away from Germany and reclaiming territories in Romania and former Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia is purely narrative.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 10: If you cannot convince a Fascist, acquaint his head with the Pavement.

Preparing to liberate Latvia and all of the Baltics from themself.

The euphoria lasted into the first weeks of January. Trotsky and the Soviets openly questioned the legitimacy of the Latvian government. Agents had inflitrated the Latvian society, socialists and ethnic Russians alike was opposed to the rule of the Latvian government. The second week of January saw the Soviet Union openly proclaiming their ideas on Latvian independence. The question now was if the USSR would go to war against a Pact Nation and risk war with Germany, or if their threats was empty.

One down, three to go!

The threats proved to be true. The USSR demanded Latvia to become part of their Union. Before they had a chance to reply the Soviets had already amassed along its border. The 23rd the deadline had expired for the answer to the ultimatum. The Latvians submitted, not risking a war with the USSR and wanting to prevent a major war between the Pact and the USSR on their soil.

Fools, believed they could stand alone.

With newly gained territories in Latvia the Soviets was quick to move against Lithuania. Mass revolts was instigated in the major cities of Lithuania, the USSR demanded that Lithuania was to keep order, or the Red Army had to do it. Lithuania got the ultimatum on the 7th of February. Either become part of the Union peacefully, or let the Red Army restore order, a mere week later the Red Army invaded the young nation. The Lithuanian army stood down letting Soviet forces occupy the country. Yet another country had fell to the world revolution.

Hopefully the Japanese won't turn to Vladivostok.

On the other side of the globe the United Chinese Front fell to the Japanese aggression. The Chinese had relied upon Soviet supplies and volunteers before the fall of Stalin, but now the Soviets had been occupied with internal matters. As China fell with Communist China, the Japanese had secured mainland China and needed to expand to protect its newly acquired area. A Soviet member of the Politburo asked "Comrade Mao and his Communists fell to Fascism, will our Union share their fate?"

We want a piece of Poland too!

However the Soviets was not only questioning the independence of the Baltic states, but the areas Poland had taken during the Soviet-Polish War. The cause for liberation of the Ukranian and Belorussian territories in Poland was further fueled by the German occupation. The official doctrine of the Soviet Union was now that eastern Poland was a part of the USSR. The Soviet Union even went as far as to claim that Germany was unlawfully occupying Soviet territories and oppressing the Ukranian and Byelorussian peoples. Trotsky pledged to liberate the workers of Ukraine, Belarus and even Poland. The Red Army developed their doctrines following the reorganization of the military, preparing for war with Germany. War was all the more likely for every day that went by.

This is more like it.

The 29th of April the last Baltic state fell to the Red Army, while officially becoming voluntarily part of the Union. The same model was used as the preceding invasions, however this time around there was no mass uprisings in the urban centers of Estonia. Despite the best try of Trotskyists inflitrators and agents there was little support in the Estonian population for socialism and communism. Instead the Soviets forced their way in, deploying the Baltic Fleet to blockade all of Estonia when the ultimatum was sent the 22nd of April. A day later the borders was closed and several Soviet formations was sent to the borders. The 29th no answer was given, so the Red Army invaded Estonia. The Estonians was in panick, but gave in to the Soviet. The Pact and USSR had been close to an open conflict, but in the last moment the Estonians gave up. What once was three independent nations had been reduced to the Lithuanian, Latvian and Baltic SSRs. The West and the Pact regarded it as an unlawful occupation, Germany threatened with war, but stood down.

The Finnish army can't stand a chance against the Red Army!

Following successes in the Baltics, the USSR looked to the final state in the Baltic that had once been part of Russia: Finland. Despite it being in the end of April the climate was harsh. The entire Leningrad Front aligned along the common Finnish border, over 700.000 soldiers was ready to invade the proud people of Finland. The Finnish responded by mobilizing their troops, would the stubbornes of the Finnish people escalate in a conflict between the USSR and the Pact? Between Russia and Germany.

And we stand ready to invade them!

The official pretex for a Soviet invasion was that the USSR needed a bufferzone from Leningrad. However most saw through the Soviet demands, it was really about creating a northern front in case Germany occupied Norway, a major bufferzone and to reclaim all of the lost Russian territories. A crisis was set into motion as the Finnish didn't seem to budge. All over the nation men joined the armed forces, volunteers flowed in from Sweden and the morale was high. Most Finns said they didn't fear the Soviet aggressors, but would instead strike back twice as hard. The philosophy of Sisu what at its finest. Many pressed Trotsky and the Soviet leadership to back down, to retrack their ultimatum to annex Karjala. With the Balkans pacified, was the Baltics the new powderkeg?

That went easier than expected.

On the 11th hour Finland ceded to the demands of the Soviets. The Finnish government recognized the superiority of the USSR, and while the Germans guaranteed them through the Pact and Sweden sent thousands of volunteers they sucumbed. The Latvian and Estonian governments in exile urged Finland to not bow, but Finland saw the hypocrisy in this. They merely wanted someone else to do their fight. A war between Germany and USSR would ravage the Finnish country. Finland succumbed to Soviet demands. Officially this was a major victory to the Soviet Union, who proclaimed they chose the parth of diplomacy over force. However many of the Soviet generals and commissars was disappointed. One even said "we had the chance to bring socialism to all of Finland, and in turn all of Scandinavia. Instead we only got marshes and forests".

Peer pressure at its finest.

Still the recent Soviet moves against the Baltic nations and Finland had put a lot of pressure on Finland, Sweden and Norway. The social democratic parties (and governments in the case of Sweden and Norway) had been inflitrated by Trotskyists, meanwhile the communists parties was advocating for open revolution. Many was also afraid of a Soviet invasion, and instead wanted to submit to the USSR and become a bulwark against Nazism. Would the Nordic nations overthrow their governments and align with the USSR, share the same faith as Denmark or perhaps risk a British intervention? At the moment anything could happen.

Armored warfare is said to be the new kind of warfare.

Following the successes in the Baltics the Red Army reorganized their armored forces. The mechanized corps would be expanded, and several independent tank brigades with light, medium and heavy armor was introduced. It was planned that in the future the T-34 would replace most of the light tank formations. It was believed that in a war with Waffen-SS and the Panzerwaffen, they needed major and competent armored force of their own.

Now they will stay away from us for good!

With Japan effectively controlling all of China, except for Sinkiand and Mongolia, USSR needed to strengthen their far eastern borders. In case of a two front war it was hoped that the fortifications would hold or stall the Japanese Army. The USSR and Japan had a non-aggression pact, but many high ranking Soviets was doubtful if it would hold.

The Red Army is competent and ready.

The rehabilitation of the Soviet Armed Forces went remarkably good. The new officer corps was competent and new theories and doctrines was developed for the eventual war. The Red Army was confident, if war came with Germany they would win.

While Japan go to war against the imperialists, we should be safe behind our fortifications.

When the Far East Fortifications was finished the Japanese looked to abandon their plans to expand into Siberia and instead focused on European colonies. The Japanese would do a surprise attack against the Dutch and bombard the Dutch East Indies. This was followed up by an amphibious invasion. The war spread to the Pacific.

Why now?

Formally Germany declared war on the Netherlands as a form of assisstance to Japan. Still the growing communist movements in the Netherlands was a concern to Germany, the Netherlands also supplied the British with materials and if they joined the Allied war effort they might become an invasion spot. The German invasion was brutal. On the 14th of August most of the Netherlands fell to airborne troops, motorised divisions and armored divisions. On the 21st the Netherlands capitulated. It took Germany one week to occupy all of the Netherlands.

Couldn't you wait another year?

September saw a British and Commonwealth invasion of the coast of Croatia. This however was of little concern to the Soviets as their intelligence services reported that Germany was preparing for war. It was estimated that in 70 days it was very likely Germany would invade the USSR. Panick struck the workers's nation, but so did optimism. Would this be the moment to spread socialism to all of Europe? The final epic clash between giants and the emancipation of the workers? Others asked if the Red Army was prepared at all.

A last minute change before the war.

The reforms in the army continued, and the motorised rifle divisions was now outfitted with regiments of self propelled artillery and anti-aircraft guns and tank destroyers.

But we were so close to spread the revolution..

The 14th of September Germany invaded Belgium. The Belgian government faced a serious risk of a communist takeover and saw to the west for aid. Mere three days before the German invasion they had joined the Allies. Germany obviously saw this as a major threat against them and invaded the nation as they did in 1914. However the British and Commonwealth nations had already arrived, they were detirmined that their British stoicism would prevent Belgium from suffering the faith of the rest of Europe.

Germans move their troops for an early invasion.

In the east the situation was becoming dire. The Soviet-German border had been virtually empty with German troops. Many believed the reports on Germans planning an invasion was simply warmongering. But Trotsky took no chances and ordered the Leningrad Front, Belarus Front and Ukraine Front to amass along the borders and prepare for an invasion. Reports then came of Germans streaming to their common border in the thousands for everyday. Some took this as a proof of the immiment German attack, others said it was a response to the Soviet provocations. The Germans viewed the Soviet annexation of the Baltics as an attack against the Pact, and with the recent Soviet buildup along their border the Germans had to believe they were about to attack. However these critics simply.. disapperead and the whole Soviet leadership was now in unity: Germany was about to attack.

We will build tanks and submarines, beat the Germans with their own weapons.

In September the T-34 was ready for production, following this a heavier tank was developed to bolster the Soviet armoed forces. It was believed this tank would be able to withstand the German Panzers. A new Chief of Navy was also chosen by Trotsky, one that focused more on submarine warfare rather than battleships. The Red Fleet recognized they simply couldn't rival the Kriegsmarine and Japanese Navy at the moment.

We're really only doing this to get more dockyards and factories.

Despite war with Germany becoming a likelyhood, Trotsky denounced the capitalist nations. Especially the United Kingdom and the United States. Trotsky and the Soviets made several papers, speeches etc and distrubuted it all over the USSR and the democracies of the world where they denounced the UK and the US and antogonized the workers there to rise up against their oppressors. Trotsky proved to be a dogmatic, where he could have gotten the support from the US and UK against their common enemies of Japan and Germany, he instead chose to confront and alienate them.

You fools!

The USSR then made the critical decision to demand Bessarabia. By first glance it looked as if they merely believed they could push the Romanians to give in to their demands like Finland and the Baltics. However Romania was in all but name under German occupation, it was unlikely Germany would allow the Romanians to give away the strategic location of Bessarabia to the USSR. It is more likely that the Soviets saw this as a reason to commence a preemptive strike against Germany. Romania refused the Soviet demands. Bells rang out all over the Soviet Union, children gave the Red Army soldiers flowers. Then the order was given.

So it begins..

All villages, cities and military garrisons had been ordered to gather around the local radios. It was a common sight of thousands of Soviet men and women to crowd around a small radio to listen to Trotsky make his speech. The exact details of the speech have been lost, but a few select words would be immortalized for all of history: "If you cannot convince a fascist, acquaint his head with the pavement". This was the codeword for the Red Army to invade Romania. The war had reached the Soviet Union and would set the vast plains of Mother Russia on fire.

Together for victory!

Hundreds of Soviet fighters and bombers took to the skies and into Romanian airspace. The Romanin oil refineries was bombed along with the German troops, the Romanian airforce lost the skies to the Soviet airforce in a matter of minutes. Soviets in the thousands assaulted the Dniester basin, but was pinned down by the German and Romanian defenders. The Soviets believed they would simply march over the river and take the contested area, instead the river was painted red in the blood of the Soviets. The Germans naturally declared war on the USSR saying their unlawful aggression against indepedent nations of the world and their threat to western society in the form of communism had to be stopped. The Soviets responded by bombarding the now Soviet-German borders for hours without end. When the fires of artillery stilled Soviet men, horses, truck, tractors and tanks alike drove toward East Prussia and Poland. The Soviets was certain the Germans was to attack them, if Germany really would have done so is unknown. Others believ it was again was not a fear of a German attack that led the USSR to invade Germany, but the ideological fanatiscism of Leon Trotsky. Still a fateful decision was made that would forever affect the course of history. The USSR and Germany was now at war.

Horrors on an unprecedented scale awaits.

 

[ThaHoward]

Chapter 11: Operation Icebreaker.

We'll crush the fascists.

The snow had barely laid down along the German-Soviet border when thousands of Soviet soldiers crossed said borders. Expectations of a victory was great. The Germans was fatigued from their two years of war and the Red Army had prepared for war relentlessly. Maps had been distributed detailing German lands, SA offices and top officers had rehearsed for a war on German and Polish soil. The Soviet attack force composed of thousands of men and horses, hundreds of planes, tanks and trucks was named "Operation: Icebreaker". The idea was that the Soviet Union was to exploit conflict in Europe to spread their ideology to all of Europe, by the tip of their bayonets. But Icebreaker was meant to be iniated in July 1941. Reports on that Germany was preparing for an invasion was met with force. Icebreaker was put forward nearly nine months ahead of time. The Soviets invaded Germany through East Prussia, Poland and Romania. But the plan had its flaws. Soviet High Command didn't plan for a war on Soviet soil, where maps and excercises for a war on German soil was abundant, actual plans for a defensive war was scarce and maps of Soviet areas of operations was few. The Red Army wasn't prepared for a war of attrition either, relying overly much on Deep Operations and forced modern warfare. The Cult of Offensive and the dogmas of Trotsky soaked Operation Icebreaker. The plan was for the Red Army to storm the German lines and make the workers of Europe follow in the examples of Spain and France and join the Internationale. Thousands of Soviet forces crossed the borders and hundreds of airplanes flew over Germany, even bombing Berlin itself. The great war between Germany and Russia, Nazism and Communism, Hitler and Trotsky had begun.

We should be able to concentrate on one front only.

A contributing factor to the Soviet aggression was their Non-Aggression Pact signed in 1939 to conclude the border conflicts that the now deceased Zhukov had ended. Still uncertainty and mutual distrust lingered. The Soviets believed if Germany got enough time to prepare for war Japan would surely join in on a joint invasion. Meanwhile if the USSR managed to make a devastating blow to Nazi Germany it would dissuade the Japanese from entering the war. Still it was those who argued that Japan had now secured China and would focus on the USSR to create buffers to their expanded Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Then it was those who argued that if they focused on their common imperialist enemies - UK and US - an unholy pact could be created between the two nations to not wage war against eachother. It was, however, believed by most Soviet top officials that Japan would not wage war against the USSR and that a two front war was unlikely.

That's old news.

Early morning of the 21st the world learned of the Romanian situation. Not that an open conflict between Germany and USSR had begun, but that Romania had rejected the Soviet demands for Bessarabia and Bukovina. The western world was split in their views on the developing situation. Should they support the USSR in hopes of gaining an ally against Germany, or was this the machinations of the Red Menace? While commentators and debators argued what would happen, war had raged along the Soviet-Romanian border for an entire night and day. The Dniester Basin was contested by both sides of the conflict, and the overwhelming Soviet advance looked to go their own favor. Still in some areas the German and Romanian soldiers managed to fend off the invading Soviets. A Romanian soldier noted "the Reds's woke us all with terrible artillery fire. The whole sky opened up in flames and it was as if the very ground we stood on was torn apart. Meanwhile endless formations of planes flew past us and lit up the horizon. What followed was endless hordes of the barbarian hordes coming toward us over the river. We manned our weapons and fired upon them. They fell in the hundreds, if not thousands, but they kept coming. They poured on us the entire night, and still they haven't given up. Wave after wave, what a waste of human lives".

Russia is steamrolling Germany.

But the Soviet invasion was not limited to Romania. The Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS was caught in dissaray as the Soviet Union rolled into East Prussia and Poland. An attack from the east was simply not expected. Allegedly Hitler refused to believe in the reports and wouldn't be awoken for more nonsense of that sort. The Red Army was simply not prepared to fight an offensive war now he claimed. But they did. Throughout the night the Red Army made significant gains. What was north-eastern Poland, or western Belarus depending on the point of view, proved to house the stiffest resistance. Here the Germans had amassed several units near Minsk. This further proved the Soviet claims of a German attack. The Red Army hoped to catch the Germans in a pocket here and remove the bulk of their offensive forces. In the north of this bulk the Soviets didn't manage to break through the German lines, but it was a possibility for them to actually cut off this bulge. In the Ukraine the forces of both sides was spread out thin and the area was generally contested. However most surprisingly the region of East Prussia proved to be the least protected nd the Soviets made significant advances the first hours. Yet the war had lasted for only a few hours, everything could happen.

Air assaults behind enemy lines.

The following day the five Soviet airborne brigades was given the green light to make their jumps. Their primary targets was the German airfields near the frontline. This was in order to deprive the Luftwaffe of their airbases. This led to the Soviet Airforce gaining complete air supremacy.* Their secondary objective was to make advances to encircle the German forces on the defensive. It shouldn't be noted that these jumps was extremely risky, and only the boldest of soldiers could earn the jump wings. The Soviet paratroopers fouynd themself cut off deep behind enemy lines. However the plan was that if they were under attack they could be airlifted out of their airbases. Their advances to encircle the Germans also played the role of confusing German troops and to draw German troops away from the front and to the rear areas. Suffice to say the lightly armed airborne troops was given a lot of responsibility and would see some of the harshest fighting.

Belgium falls, but Spain joins.

About a week into the war President Diaz, now a self declared Trotskyist, announced in a declaration that the Republic of Spain would enter into the Internationale** with USSR, France, Tannu-Tuva and Mongolia. Still Spain wasn't called into the war, but it created a direct threat to Germany from the west and especially in their newly acquired colonies in Africa - which was already under attack by the British. After a month and a half of battle, with significant Commonwealth involvement, Belgium fell to Germany. Nazi Germany now controlled an area from Norway to Wallonia, only France needed to fall - again - for the Atlantic Wall toward Britain to take place.

Soviet forces fighting.

Throughout October the fighting continued. Today it might seem pointless, but for the soldiers of the time they were fighting for their homes, their country. In retroperspective it's easy to say it is easy to say both sides were driven by ideology. By two different opposing world views. But it was in reality about serving their country, and both sides fought bitterly for their land. October saw intense fighting with minimal gains of lands. An unnamed Soviet sergeant wrote in his diary "I have been shuffled among several battalions. All of them have been obliterated. Thousands of my brothers have fell to the German bullets and bombs, only a few centimeters of soil have been taken. But we keep on fighting. We keep on fighting for our Motherland and for out loved ones back home". The battles lasted through all of October with immense sacrifice on both sides.

The end justifies the means?

That sacrifice was especially tall for the Soviets. The Germans had lost nearly 40.000 soldiers, meanwhile the Soviet - military - casualities was almost 200.000. An enourmous amount for merely 11 days. In 11 days both sides had suffered 235.000 men in casualties. The Red Army made gainst in East Prussia nearing itself the ancient city of Königsberg and was near to close the bulge and two different locations, but was in the end stopped by the German forces. Through October the German forces had withstood the German onslaught and the Soviet invasion was put to a halt. Hell was upon the two opposing sides.

Street fights in Wilno.

One of the worst battles took place in the contested city of Wilno which the Soviets believed was part of Belarus and which the Germans had under their Polish General Government. The city had been near the borders of both sides and been under constant bombing from artillery and airplanes alike. The Soviets fought fanatically to claim the city, but the Germans who held the city was seasoned veterans from the war with the Little Entente and the Allies. Despite the Soviets refusing to give up the city, the opposition was too great. The streets of Wilno was riddled with ruins - and bodies. The Soviets had to give up their assault on the city by November and pull out their forces. The Red Army proved itself to not be invincible.

FFS!

Following the Soviet misconduct in Germany, the high command finally got the answer on whether or not the Japanese would attack or not. They did. The 31st of October the Soviet ambassador in Japan recieved the notice that a state of war was between the two nations. The Soviets responded quickly by ordering their Far East Front to invade Manchuria and Korea. The war had expanded to the far east.

The Germans are rolling into Ukraine.

The Germans and Romanians had also managed to break through the Dniester river and occupy the borderlands. What was to be a swift Soviet victory proved to be a possible gate for German advance. The battles around the river was especially fierce. Later a Soviet reconnaissance soldier recollected "we was stationed upon height 362. Our task was to observe the fascist advances from the west to the east. We saw several armored and mechanized formations move through the area. We listened in on the comms and heard that our battalion had sent an infantry platoon over the bridge to stall the fascist advance. The infantrists called up HQ to report several trucks had disembarked German infantrists. They called them up again no less than 30 minutes after it, no contact was established. We then observed several new formations of enemies in a battalion strength. We reported it in and HQ wanted us to take on an 8 hour march to better observe the bridge crossing. We then saw the Germans amassed preparing for an attack, we called in artillery fire to stall their advance. To stall them just enough for our forces to come to the bridge and keep them away. But they didn't. The fascist pigs forced their way over the bridge. We were cut off. Days later we linked up with remnants of our battalion. Apparently our entire battalion had been wiped out. Even members of the staff and logistics had taken to arms and fought the fascists. But to no success, they all perished". This was only one of the stories, to sum it up "Operation München", the joint German-Romanian operation to get into Ukraine, was a success. The Soviets was suddenly on the defensive.

Manchuria and Korea will be liberated by the Red Banner Armys!

Following the Japanese declaration of war the Soviets proceeded to invade the Japanese controlled areas. Following their victories in the Border Wars the Red Army was certain of victory. The first attack on Japanese forces in the area proved to hold up this theory. But the war in the west had proved that war could be elusive and change in a heartbeat.. Nevertheless the United States saw a common enemy in Japan and sent one division of "volunteers" to aid the Soviet war effort against the Germans and Japanese.

Desperate times require desperate measures.

Following the stalemate and the German incursions into Ukraine Soviet high command looked on methods to delay the inevitable German assault. Three airborne brigades was ordered to assault the cities of Danzig/Gdansk, Lwow and Brest Litovsk. The brigades attacking Danzig and Lwow managed to take control of their objectives. The brigade attacking Brest Litpvsk on the otherhands was not so lucky. They found themself dropped directly into German defenses and had to surrender mere hours after their drop. 6800 men perished in a matter of minutes. Still the drops into Danzig and Lwow was successfull. Their orders was to dig in and hold out until reinforcements came. General Purkayev however admitted that "they are sacrificed for a greater cause".

The Germans are getting ready for an invasion of their own.

Following almost a month of battle on the western Soviet front or eastern German front the Germans was ready to seize the initiative. German troops was amassing along the Soviet border, but was exhausted. Winter also stepped in making the sporadic German advances grind to a halt. The question was if the Germans or the Soviets would emerge as the strongest force following the winter.

It could've been worse?

The 19th of November German forces continued to advance into the USSR. They had to, however, pay for every inch of ground and seemingly couldn't count on sweeping victories as they had in '38 and '39. Despite mass Soviet desertion the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS faced severe opposition and the Soviets still controlled the air. But Germany was making significant gains into Ukraine - the bread bsket and industrial heartland of the USSR.

Soviet forces digging in, preparing for the worst.

The Red Army found itself on completely different situation than just a mere month earlier. Hundreds of thousands (!) had lost their lives in one month. Many more had lost their loved ones. The Red Army found itself suddenly on the defensive. In a nerve wracking situation. When would the German war machine attack? It seemed as if thousands had died, and was still dying, just to postpone what was to come. The Soviet attack had failed, it was only a matter of time before the Germans would retaliate-

Are they going a bridge too far this time?

With Germany busy on their eastern front, Britain and her dominions invaded the north of Netherlands in the hopes of getting into northern Germany. Heavy fighting ensued. The Allies ws already stretched out thin with forces in Asia, North Africa, Croatia and now the Netherlands. Was this the passage to Berlin?

The Japanese hold their ground..

The invasion of Manchuria proved, as with the invasion of Germany and Romania, to not be as easy as the Soviet Union had first thought. Several Japanese divisions was sent to their common borders, and even here the Soviets had to call off their attacks. The Japanese however didn't go on the offensive either and another phoney war happened in the Far East as it happened with France and Germany two years earlier.

Finally some good news!

In December the Germans managed to overextend themself outside of Daugavpils. Several divisions was trapped in the Daugavpils pocket. By the 4th only two German divisions remained. They would soon fall to the defending Soviet forces. A small, but needed, victory in the German onslaught.

The Wehrmacht advancing into Ukraine.

Meanwhile the Germans was making significant gains in Ukraine. Crossing from Romania and Poland the Whermacht was ready to take on Kiev. Many of the Ukranians again longed to be liberated. It only remained to be seen if the Germans was truly liberators or not...

New Year's Eve could have been celebrated in a better fashion..


The year turned to 1941. But it was not peaceful. As the Soviets went on the defensive the Germans went somewhat on the offensive. It was mostly probing, still the Germans had suffered around 320.000 casualties and the Soviet Union had suffered 666k (proving they're the devil) casualties. In December Germany had made enormous gains in Ukraine, but was stalled on the path to Leningrad and Moscow. And December made winter, and those who have read the tragedy of Napoleon know what happened then. Would history repeat itself?

The great trial of their time have just begun.

History or not, the soldiers was fighting the war now and then. Mere two months of war claimed over one million lives. Spain had also joined the war now, posing a threat against Germany in Africa and from France. This was only the prelude of what was to come. The fate of Europe and the world was to be decided here, among Soviet and Axis troops.

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*I've had air supremacy since the start of the war. Also been bombing Berling with Strtegic bonbers.

**Spain joined the Comitern. I'm just gonna call it the Interntionale from now on.

 

[ThaHoward]

Communist Revolutions: Vive la révolution!

Spoiler: Music.

Election poster for the French Popular Front.

"People who are hungry, people who are out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made" was once said by FDR. This proved to be true in France who still suffered from the effects of the Great Depression: unemployment and political instability. A series of events led up the December Revolution of 1939. One of the direct causes that led to the new and radical regime was the French Popular Front - similar to the one in Spain and encouraged by the Comintern and USSR. Following the fascist threats in central and southern Europe the official Comintern doctrine shifted focus from calling the moderate left and social democrats for "social-fascists" to instead cooperate with the established parties. Faced with the threat of Hitler, economic depression, a weak parliament, financial scandals and the rise of violent far right leagues - which pulled off an unsuccessful coup d'etat in 1934. In response the future leader of the French Commune Maurice Thorez aired the idea of a Popular Front, with directions from the Comintern, already in 1934. During the election of 1936 the SFIO (social democrats) and Radical Party (social liberals) would run together supported by the French Communist Party (PCF).

They was popular enough to emerge victorious.

Following the election the Popular Front secured the majority. The Socialists also became the greatest party in the French parliament succeeding the Radical Party who had dominated the Third Republic. André Léon Blum would become the first Socialist Prime Minister of France - and the first Jewish one. Expectations was high for the Popular Front and the workers of France was anxious for labour reforms.

The Stalinist puppets, soon to embrace the enlightenment of Trotskyism.

But to better understand the Popular Front, and the later French Commune, one might look on the parties itself. The PCF was a somewhat marginalized fringe party. In short they split from the SFIO in 1920 as they were the left wing of the party seeking more radical approaches to a socialist government. PCF soon found itself absorbed by the Comintern and was in turn dictated by the Soviet Union. These dictations proved themself when Thorez became General Secretary. In the 1920s the PCF sought to cooperate with the other parties in the parliament. However Thorez followed the Stalinist line of "social-fascism". Basically that social-democrats of the Second International was betraying socialism by collaborating with democratic parties and in turn enabling fascism. However Stalin and the Comintern soon turned around as they saw that fascism was on the rise anyway. By the instruction of the Comintern Thorez took a sharp turn and went back to the policy of cooperating with the other parties. Thus they laid the foundation for the Popular Front. The PCF also had strong contacts with radical unionists and promoted several strikes and opposed colonialism. The strikes would later on play a vital role for the future revolution.

The Socialists was a prime target to be inflitrated by Trotskyists and bring real socialism to France...

The French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) was the social democratic party of France. Tracing it roots all the way back to Marx's son in law the party had a rich story of promoting socialism, Marxism and social democracy. In many way they were a big tent party on the left. However after joining the Second International many of the far left parties saw them as bourgeois disguised as reds. This led to, as mentioned earlier, to the split between the SFIO and PCF. However following the failed fascist coup the left of France believed there was a nationwide right wing conspiracy to overthrow the Republic. Together with the PCF and the Radical Party they formed the Popular Front. The Socialists managed to become the biggest party. However most importantly this also saw the entry of Trotskyists. In 1934 under the advise of Trotsky the Bolshevik-Leninists would enter the SFIO. This was named by Trotsky as the "French Turn" and would later on lead to the Entryism doctrine. The Trotskyists would remain in the SFIO and radicalised them to the left and was especially bolstered by the return of Trotsky. Soon there was little difference between the PCF and SFIO as the former joined the Fourth International and the latter was in practice led by Trotskyists. The seeds for revolution was sawn.*

The leader of the Socialists. A Marxist and a Democratic Reformer.

The first Socialist Prime Minister of France was Léon Blum. He was a unique figure as he opposed entering the Comintern saying there's no such thing as a "good dictatorship" meanwhile he wanted a Socialist State. He was also critical of the class based conflict model of Marxism instead believing that a well educated elite should lead the nation to "to define, protect, and guarantee the condition of the working class". He also differed from the PCF stance on colonialism stating that "the right and even the duty of superior races to attract those who have not arrived at the same degree of culture and to call them to the progress realised thanks to the efforts of sciences and industry ... We have too much love for our country to disavow the expansion of its thought, of the French civilisation". Despite his differences with PCF and the Radicals he managed to get through several reforms. The PCF and many of the workingmen was not pleased and hoped for greater reforms. Blum was unable to provide them that as he had to juggle between the needs of the PCF, SFIO and the Radicals. He also refused to send support to the Republicans in Spain due to the Radicals fearing a civil war at home, this not only angered the PCF but also the growing Trotskyist elements in his own party. Despite his good intentions and sweeping reforms the left and right of the Popular Front was not satisfied and Blum realized he was incapable of leading a stable government. As such he resigned in April of 1938. The communists of the Popular Front cheered and hoped to gain more power. Instead a candidate from the Radical Party was elected Prime Minister infuriating the PCF and Trotskyists. When Blum resigned as Prime Minister he was also replaced by Trotskyist elements in the party. They declared "The Fourth International is growing stronger. It's time to show that our interests can be aligned" signalled a sharp leftist turn in the SFIO.

Prime minister Camille Chautemps of the not so radical Radical Party.

The man to replace Blum was Chautemps. He tried to balance the needs of his own party and the interests of the radicalised French left. Despite pursuing nationalization and improving the situation for women, many believed it was simply not enough. Chautemps found himself under immense pressure and soon he expelled the Socialists from the government. The final straw was when the PCF and SFIO made a joint declaration following the return of Trotsky "The goal is clear. Equality for all. We don't want capitalists interests in French politics". The SFIO was now openly a member of the Fourth International and was under the illusion that Trotsky would restore democratic socialism to the USSR. Chautemps resigned and the Popular Front was dissolved. The Radical Party would now lead a miniority government with Daladier as the PM.

Strikes are a powerful weapon, especially during rearmament.

Despite the fall of Blum he managed to make several vital reforms. Among them was the Matignon Agreements which gave the French workers several new rights such as shorter work days, paid vacation etc. but most importantly the right to strike. The latter proved to crucial for the future developments. The many strikes and lockdowns the next year led to several government concessions and strenghtened the unions. Following the Entryism strategy of the now Trotskyist USSR several of the unions was radicalised and arms flowed from the Spanish Republic. With these guns several veterans from the civil war and NKVD agents inflitrated the unions as well and provoked many strikes crippling the economy of a France that was at war. This led to the French government being seen as incapable and increased the popularity among the PCF and SFIO. It was only a matter of time before one of these strikes turned into a violent one.**

Daladier, the last moderate (and democratic) Prime Minister of France.

Daladier was despite his best intentions in an impossible situation. The war with Germany was caused by the hardline of the PCF and SFIO forcing Chautemps to go to war. However the war soon proved to be highly unpopular. The French left capitalized on this. They openly went against the war and led anti-war demonstrations and strikes. Daladier tried his best but one of the reasons why the French army failed to hold out against the Germans was the high desertion rates not only among the soldiers but also in the arms industry. This led to shortages in the French army, but worse many of the deserters defected to newly formed workers's councils and militias. Revolution was looming.

Parisian barricades in 1871. A not so unusual phenomena.

And revolution came in December 1939. The peace installed on France was harsh, not only hurting the national pride but being under severe economic restrictions. This led to another economic depression in France and the government had no choice but to roll back many of the reforms introduced by Léon Blum. Moreover Germany, being against both socialism and communism, demanded the Daladier government to ban all of the leftist parties. This naturally enraged the workers and violent strikes and uprisings all over France was now a common sight. Matters was made only worse when France again went to war. With their southern border unprotected French rebels, NKVD agents and the revived International Brigades streamed to France in the thousands de-facto setting up their own provincial government in the south. They looked to the successes in Spain and back to the Parisian Commune of 1871. The time had come for revolution.

The workers rise up in Paris, against Fascism and Capitalism, and for the Bolsheviks.

Following the revolt in Paris and the establishment of the Second Parisian Commune the SFIO and PCF (and other smaller leftist parties) merged together to form the Commune's Party of Socialist Unification. They quickly took control of all of southern France with thousands of seasoned soldiers and rebels working as the Vanguard and stripped the Daladier government of all power. They proclaimed the Third Republic had come to an end and been replaced by the Commune of the French Workers. The situation was chaotic and many believed that Nazi Germany would proceed to wage war on the new French government. However on the 11th hour the Germans stood down and started to negotiate with the French Commune - under the threat of Spanish and Soviet intervention. The Commune agreed renounced all claims and Alsace-Lorraine and their colonies. Peace was secured and the new radical government was ready to transform Spain.

Maurice Thorez the true liberator of the French workers.

Maurice Thorez was elected as the General Secretary of the Commune's Party of Socialist Unification and became in effect the new leader of France. The CPSU formally existed alongside the other parties in another Popular Front, but in reality the communists had total power. Several radical reforms was implemented to improve the condition of the workers, but most importantly to undertake a rapid expansion of their industry to prepare for the inevitable war with their arch enemy and the enemies of the revolution. With the help of the NKVD several so called fifth columnists was purged and France experienced yet another revolutionary terror government. True equality, fraternity and liberty was promised. During new year's eve Thorez gave a speech outlying the new course France was to take. The most infamous part of that speech was "the fat bankers and the powerhungry demagogues are strengthening their bloody grip upon the world. With each passing day we see free men enslaved and the world plunged further into crisis, created by the greed of the individual (...) French and Internationalist ideals are needed more than ever! Humanity needs us, and we need humanity!"

What's so bad about the USSR controlling France?

France was now firmly under the sphere of USSR and many saw the Popular Front and the Commune as nothing but a puppet of the USSR fearing that the revolution would spread from Spain and France and further into Europe. Soon France would make a formal alliance with the Soviet Union declaring "Our ties with the Internationale has grown stronger and it's time to dedicate ourselves fully to their cause!"

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*In reality the Trotskyists abonded this idea following the creation of the Popular Front. In this timeline however they took power in the SFIO making it another communist party.
**It look like as France chose the options for the strikes that increased communist support. Good for us!

The quotes are from the Communist focuses for France. I will make an update for future (if any) communist revolutions and their backrounds to give more immersion in the narrative. But for the gameplay itself they are non-essential so it is not necessairy to read the Communist Revolutions entries. Hopefully you'll find it interesting and create a more living story.