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Oh...let me not tell you how batshit the Swiss game has gotten. Almost everyone is now at war with everyone else, except us and the balakns. Until Italy realised that and brought them in. And Mexico (which doesn't currently exist) declared war (from the underworld, presumably) on all of central amercia, dragging them in.
And South amercia decided to join in for no reason.
Working up the next chapter now (for those who follow my other AARs, I'm now alternating this one with Q&D2 and B&B updates to keep it moving along, with the TT votes coming up weekly on a separate schedule).
Trotsky really calm, communists favours Mao over him (although I think it's weird move from stricte practical perspective). Mexico in allies may help counter Maoist Japan (I guess we can call it her now like that) in Pacific.
Trotsky has been very quiet since the Soviet Civil War. Too quiet ... (as the trope goes). But nothing out of him so far, so war justification on Poland, nor any obvious effort to expand the 4th International. As the belligerent faction leader, Mao is doing all the running and gaining the adherents - both Communist and non-Communist. And getting Japan to join is a big bonus, you'd think.
Agreed. In-AAR, it's still only being referred to as 'proto-WW2'. A collection of small (Central and South Asia), medium (Italy/Greece) and large (China) sized regional conflicts.
You know chaps I think we're suffering from a lack of focus. Not sure we want to get sucked into the grinder of the bitter Chinese-Chinese war (which is not technically a Civil War because.. reasons). I know everyone is flitting around like excited butterflies as the multiple wars spread and overlap, but how about we just pick one theatre and go for it? Those Poles seem to have the right idea, focus on Italy and try to get the job done there.
Quite right. At least not send so many troops to Central and East Asia that you risk the war with Italy! Looks like the HOI4 AI is just as bad at balancing priorities and managing conflicting theatres as the HOI3 one
Nice seeing the Poles finally getting in on the action. When the war began, I feared they would just be bystanders. Even with the one defeat there, they are doing quite well for themselves and the allies.
It had to come. Especially when our supposedly bigger and stronger allies just drop the ball like they have in Italy. Though China is in need of help now that Communist Japan has entered the war.
Each of us will have to decide which side of this barbed wire fence they end up on, but one wouldn't want to be sitting on it. To lampoon myself (apropos of nothing much in particular) by quoting some Kipling: “He wrapped himself in quotations - as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors.”
This is still baby's first nutcase compared to the various truly insane (and strangely, always Italian) HOI4 AARs. Although lads of tour was a good attempt at a British version.
It's why the alt-history empire options are so powerful. Austria Hungary has cores on the entire old empire and Germany, the Roman and Byzantine Empires have gigantic cores over most of Europe and the Middle east respectively. Greater Germania has the German Reich circa 1914 plus all the way eastwards to and including modern Ukraine.
Imperial Federation mixed with the Anglo-French Union is of course the most broken. Pretty much every continent is completely cored with that mix, except South America. King Edward ends up ruling the world, and Queen Wallis the entirety of North America.
Fortunately, having barely played the game before (and only read a few HOI4 AARs) all these possibilities are but remote mirages to me. Which helps a lot when you actively want to be surprised and occasionally even shocked by what transpires in-game.
Huh...I have never seen such a huge Indian revolt. Usually its just all or parts of India, but it seems they've dragged Pakistan and Iran with them this time. Interesting! Well, for a few weeks anyway...
At this rate, the Maoist bloc may grow to match the Russian one, as it gets all those non-Fascist fellow travellers to join who are at war with the Allies, as well as the more aligned (well Red, anyway) JaComs.
Is Trotsky's great world order still just the Soviet Union or has he suffered breakaways? Is America sitting on the sidelines providing lend-lease to everyone and banking its money in Cayman unnumbered accounts? Is France depending on the Marie Sklodowska Legion for its defense? Thank your, our brave provider of the real truth.
This might actually be a smart move by Benito, for once. He was facing overwhelming odds, but now, at a stroke, he's diverting a lot of British, French, and apparently even German, resources to the Far East.
I do find it hilarious that at this point it's called the Manchu-Albanian war!
This is very true indeed. As you read the next chapter or two, you will see the fruits of this in northern Italy. And yes, the name(s) of the war(s) keep changing every time I look at them. It seems to vary depending on who joined last, sometimes. I'm not sure what the naming mechanism is ... and probably don't want to bother trying to find out!
My concern here is that you may need more factories supplying the basic equipment for your infantry formations, particularly if you get involved in any heavy fighting and need to replenish significant losses.
This is a good point (and one at first I had no easy way to reckon with, hardly having played HOI4 before). It is something the combat experience in Italy will provide some useful lessons for and which Poland will have to gear up for. But it is also an area where it turns out having lots of allies can come in handy for.
It was probably better to have the Spanish fighting each other. The Republicans might have joined Trotsky or Mao if they'd won, but now the Nationalists could end up throwing in their lot with Mussolini and Puyi.
Agreed. The house divided applies though, and now Franco has reunited it. If they were to join the (Fascist) Asian-Italian League it could prove to be an irritant out of all proportion to their relative strengths, given the seeming Allied (specifically Anglo-French-German) preoccupation with Central and East Asia.
That does seem just a little bit crazy from the Greeks, doesn't it? And what is the 'Kingdom of Greece' doing choosing Mao?
My favourite bit of AI insanity was playing Italy, with Bulgaria as my faction buddy. Bulgaria only goes and starts a war with Germany... and this is when I'm standing back-to-back with the Germans, both of us trying desperately to hold off the Allies (and in Germany's case, the Soviets as well). I could only cut Bulgaria loose!
Could be. I also noticed later (as I was exploring the various info screens around battles I'm still trying to work out for AAR purposes) that the Allies had seemingly won air superiority and a lot of the Italian casualties were apprently from air missions.
Another wacky update that was fun to read, and I'm glad to see Poland getting more active. They could prove decisive in Italy, especially as there's some sort of breakout towards France. I will say I'm glad the Italians have not just collapsed but instead have some fight in them.
<Zips gimp mask> Note I'm referencing the 1969 movie, described as a “Comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin by creating a traffic jam.” It starred Michael Caine, Noël Coward and Benny Hill. I rest my case re seriousness and also Mafia side plots.
Er, wait, I think my computer has malfunctioned ... or have you been hacked? "rare moment of sanity" and "HoI4 engine" mentioned in the same sentence!? <falls into a dead faint> <smelling salts applied> Oh, I see, sarcasm.
Historically, the Italian rank and file soldiers usually gave a strong account of themselves, but their generals consistently did the wrong things which led to the reputation for Italian ineptitude at war-fighting, a reputation only enhanced by Mussolini's own tendency to overcommit for poor reasons at best.
All fair points, no doubt. The rank and file were probably just exercising very good personal judgement, not wanting to sacrifice their lives in droves for the likes of Musso and a bunch of incompetent generals launching a bunch of unnecessary wars of aggression.
Oh...let me not tell you how batshit the Swiss game has gotten. Almost everyone is now at war with everyone else, except us and the balakns. Until Italy realised that and brought them in. And Mexico (which doesn't currently exist) declared war (from the underworld, presumably) on all of central amercia, dragging them in.
And South amercia decided to join in for no reason.
Historically, the Italian rank and file soldiers usually gave a strong account of themselves, but their generals consistently did the wrong things which led to the reputation for Italian ineptitude at war-fighting, a reputation only enhanced by Mussolini's own tendency to overcommit for poor reasons at best.
I 100% agree with you there. I've never been one to criticize the common Italian soldier since I think any other nationality as poorly led and equipped as them would have fared as badly or worse.
I've been reading Ciano's diaries and it's fascinating to see the pile of stupid decisions that led to the attack on Greece, basically just because Mussolini wanted to one-up Hitler. That's probably their biggest failing, which is really a political/planning failure rather than any issue with the soldiers, while Compass was a lot like the French experience against the Germans, with a small mobile force destroying a huge but mostly static force.
My final thought, the Italians were certainly the most rational of the Axis powers, at least their populace and some of the Fascist party leaders, because they fought hard up until they'd been soundly defeated and didn't have a chance of winning. It was much smarter to end the war and spare the homefront all the suffering the Japanese and Germans would go through, although their former allies didn't give them a clean break from the war unfortunately.
I 100% agree with you there. I've never been one to criticize the common Italian soldier since I think any other nationality as poorly led and equipped as them would have fared as badly or worse.
I've been reading Ciano's diaries and it's fascinating to see the pile of stupid decisions that led to the attack on Greece, basically just because Mussolini wanted to one-up Hitler. That's probably their biggest failing, which is really a political/planning failure rather than any issue with the soldiers, while Compass was a lot like the French experience against the Germans, with a small mobile force destroying a huge but mostly static force.
My final thought, the Italians were certainly the most rational of the Axis powers, at least their populace and some of the Fascist party leaders, because they fought hard up until they'd been soundly defeated and didn't have a chance of winning. It was much smarter to end the war and spare the homefront all the suffering the Japanese and Germans would go through, although their former allies didn't give them a clean break from the war unfortunately.
Yes, that. They put up plenty of fight in WW1, up on the Isonzo - on their own territory. Running the serious risk of having to lay down your life for your country is always going to seem pretty unappealing if the reasons are poor or even mad or you're being forced to do it out of fear of your own leadership alone.
Yes, that. They put up plenty of fight in WW1, up on the Isonzo - on their own territory. Running the serious risk of having to lay down your life for your country is always going to seem pretty unappealing if the reasons are poor or even mad or you're being forced to do it out of fear of your own leadership alone.
Absolutely, and they had a lot more to justify war against Austria in WWI than Britain in WWII. The Austrians had a long history of warring with the Italians, disregarding the lands many Italians felt were rightfully theirs.
Also, I feel like Italian failures get overplayed while their successes get downplayed a bit. A lot of history books make it seem like all the Italians disappeared from Africa after the DAK showed up, but they were still 60% plus of the Axis there and were key in many of Rommel's biggest victories.
Yes, that. They put up plenty of fight in WW1, up on the Isonzo - on their own territory. Running the serious risk of having to lay down your life for your country is always going to seem pretty unappealing if the reasons are poor or even mad or you're being forced to do it out of fear of your own leadership alone.
Obviously this is true. But you have to admit that laying down your life for the 12th Battle of the Isonzo could easily be confused for a "poor" reason. Or, given a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, perhaps even a 'mad' one?
Obviously this is true. But you have to admit that laying down your life for the 12th Battle of the Isonzo could easily be confused for a "poor" reason. Or, given a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, perhaps even a 'mad' one?
Quite. But the madness was mainly on the part of Cadorna (who seemed to be emulating a lot of Western Front bull-headedness at the time) rather than the troops and perhaps the culture of obedience (and coercion) was greater at that time. Which goes back to the leadership question.
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Chapter Six – Savoy: Time to FERT Off (16 June – 1 October 1940)
Chapter Six – Savoy: Time to FERT Off (16 June – 1 October 1940)
FERT (sometimes tripled, FERT, FERT, FERT), the motto of the royal house of Savoy-Sardinia and Italy, the House of Savoy.
The motto appeared for the first time on the collar of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, or Ordine Supremo della Santissima Annunziata, the primary dynastic order of the kingdom. This ceased to be a national order when Italy became a republic in 1946.
The meaning of the letters has been a matter of some controversy, to which a number of interpretations have been offered. The motto is believed an acronym of:
Foedere et Religione Tenemur (Latin: 'Treaty and religion bind us'); or
Fortitudo Eius Rhodum Tenuit (Latin: 'His strength conquered Rhodes' or 'By his bravery he held [or occupied] Rhodes'), referring to the victory of Amadeus V, Count of Savoy (1249–1323), who fought against the Saracens at the 1315 siege of Rhodes; or
Fortitudo Eius Rempublicam Tenet (Latin: 'His bravery [or strength] preserves [or defends] the state'); or
Fides Est Regni Tutela (Latin: 'Faith is the protector of [our] Kingdom').
It has also been suggested that the letters are actually the Latin word fert (third-person singular present active indicative of ferre), meaning '[he/she/it] suffers/bears', possibly referring to Jesus bearing the sins of the world.
A French-language parody of FERT was said by Savoy's neighbours to mean Frappez, Entrez, Rappez Tout (French: 'Strike, Enter, Break Everything'), from their penchant for chevauchée. In this AAR, the Poles are going to adopt that version!
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The Italian Savoy Offensive (16 June – 31 July 1940)
Despite the Italian Savoy Offensive progressing in the west, the Polish bridgehead in Bologna sought to expand with an attack to expand it to their east that started late on 16 June. It started positively enough …
… and two more divisions from north of the River Po had been added by the 20th, to try to boost the odds.
But by the 27th, as the attack continued, the odds were flagging and this worsened until by the 30th, only two attacking divisions were left in the fight; it was clearly now failing and was called off. It was the most expensive battle in terms of casualties and equipment loss so far in the war for the Poles.
The French sought an armistice with the Italians on 20 June, which was signed on the 24th. The Franco-German armistice negotiations were concluded at Compiègne on 22 June and France officially surrendered to Germany at 01:35 on 25 June. Soviet-led coups in the Baltic States were conducted on 21 June. Then on 26 July the Soviet Union sent an ultimatum demanding Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania.
In Savoy-Piedmont, the latest contingent of Polish reinforcements arrived in Grenoble on 1 July, having regained their organisation on the approach march. They were soon heading to the front as the Italians advanced past Turin.
And it seemed the recent equipment losses in the motorised divisions in the Bologna sector had spurred some voluntary donations of trucks from the Germans. Other holdings had also fallen into deficit, as Polish industry tried to keep pace: more Allied assistance would be offered in coming weeks [which won't all be documented here].
The fresh Polish divisions in Piedmont launched an attack south of Turin on 9 July, with General Źeligowski implementing a force attack directive. It would succeed by the 16th, but at a heavy cost in men and gear due to this aggressive order. By this time, Polish overall casualties to date were beginning to climb.
The Battle of Britain began on 10 July with Luftwaffe raids on channel shipping.
The British officially recognised the battle's duration as being from 10 July until 31 October 1940, which overlaps the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz, that lasted from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941.
In the greater world madness, another revolution broke out in Mexico on 12 July, with the ‘Red Brigades’ soon joining the Communist bloc of choice, Mao’s MAB.
The Piedmont attack was progressing well (94%) by 14 July, but gaps elsewhere led the Poles to embark another two infantry divisions on trains for the Italian Front that evening. And on the 16th, the three Polish divisions still north of the Po River started crossing over into the southern bank bridgehead just north of Bologna.
Having advanced after their successful attack in Piedmont, on 20 July the Poles attacked again, this time to the south-east towards the coast, looking to cut off some exposed Italian divisions north of Nice. They would win by the evening of the 21st.
But they did not continue the advance after Italian reinforcements arrived, instead wanting to cut off the Italian advance before they caused more problems in the Allied rear. The attack began on the 22nd as was won on the 27th, consolidating the Allied line in the south.
A new attack began in the Bologna sector of Emilia Romagna with five divisions on the morning of 27 July. As usual, it started well.
But by 29 July the Italians had sent in another division west of Bologna, while in Piedmont-Savoy the Polish work in the south was undermined by a strong Italian breakthrough against an effectively dissolved Allied front from Grenoble to Annecy. Three divisions began shifting north to try to halt the latest breakthrough.
And another three divisions began the train trip to Italy, as the USR continued to only lightly man the Poland’s eastern border and made no unfriendly diplomatic noises.
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Lyon Down on the Job (1-31 August 1940)
The first encounters of the shift north in Savoy began on early on 1 August, by which time the Italians had already raced across the border and seized Grenoble. The Italians tried to push south from Turin and then Grenoble but were held by the Poles’ quick defence.
But due to the deteriorating situation to the north, two more divisions – this time from the Danzig garrison that had been retained to guard Poland’s only port – were sent to Italy.
Meanwhile, there were now two battles around Bologna: the original attack, which was becoming borderline, and a new spoiling attack by four Italian divisions on Bologna itself. The whole Italian effort was showing itself to be very tenacious.
By 7 August, the Italian offensive had been held in the south, but was making inroads towards Lyon in the north as more Polish units arrived. One was kept back to recover organisation and dig in in Lyon (which the French had left undefended). The 15 WDP was sent forward to try to establish a hasty defence on the west bank of the Rhône River in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Huge gaps remained in the Allied line in this sector.
They reached their destination early on 9 August but had too little organisation to resist the Italian attack that immediately struck them and were hastily pulled out before they could suffer heavy casualties.
As the Italian Savoy Offensive caused issues for France and the fighting around Bologna continued with both the Polish and Italian attacks winding down, good news came on 10 August with the capitulation of Greece.
But Poland sent yet more divisions to France as they tried to bail out their ally.
In East Asia, the Communist lodgement on China’s east coast had made significant progress and threatened to cut off the section of the north-east the nationalist still held. And without any announcement or easily identified reasons, Burma had declared independence as a neutral democratic country.
On the morning of 11 August, the Italian attack on Bologna was defeated but even so, four hours later that Polish one to its west was also abandoned, again after heavy casualties.
A week later on 18 August, a Polish attack from the south on Grenoble was also lost (Poland 824, Italy 167 casualties) as the Italians closed up to the Rhône in front of Lyon.
At the national level, Poland had shifted to more of a focus on developing research and industrial capacity. Their research capacity was increased from the to four projects on 20 August, with the focus switching to industrial development in central Poland.
By 24 August, more Polish divisions had arrived and were setting up defences around Lyon. There were still gaps in the line, with Poland now providing about two thirds of the Allied forces in the sector.
And China was in trouble, despite a lot of Allied divisions in the area to assist them – to the detriment of the Italian Front. Quite a few German and French divisions in China proper, the British more on the south-west borders of China and Sinkiang.
By the end of 25 August, the Poles were under Italian attack in the Alpes sector, north-east of Lyon on the east bank of the Rhône.
However, the British were now holding a bridgehead directly east of Lyon. It was there that the Poles decided to push three divisions forward to reinforce the British against an Italian attack, arriving late on the 29th, even as 16 PDP came under a determined Italian attack across the Rhône, south of Lyon.
On 2 August the USSR annexes Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, followed by the formal annexation of Lithuania (3 August), Latvia (5 August) and Estonia (6 August). The Battle of Britain turns in Britain’s favour, with Churchill making his "Never was so much owed by so many to so few" speech to the Common on 20 July. The “London Blitz” effectively starts on the 30th, the same day Hitler and Mussolini dictated the so-called Second Vienna Award which forced Romania to hand over the Northern Transylvania to Hungary.
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Time to FERT Them (1 September – 1 October 1940)
As September began, a range of Allied countries were providing unsolicited but welcome lend-lease assistance to help remedy Polish equipment deficits from the recent fighting. A good example was in infantry equipment, where a large deficit was turned into a modest surplus. Although this gifted equipment tended to be older and less effective that the latest Polish designs, it was certainly better than having nothing! Other areas of significant shortage were in artillery and trucks. The SP artillery was still a new capability that was ramping up.
By 4 September, the notional war balance was slightly in the Allies favour and they had more total troops than their two opposing blocs, but their casualties were also noticeably higher, led of course by the ROC. Of interest, it seemed Lithuania had been taking some significant losses, even if their contribution to the war effort seemed somewhat negligible.
The Italians had managed to slip through and occupy Lyon by 10 September, which prompted an immediate Polish attack, which eventually converged from three directions as the Germans were left to defend the Rhône bridgehead.
This counter-attack succeeded by 2000hr on the 16th and by midnight Lyon had been retaken, though the Italians were able to escape across the Rhône to the south-east. The Poles were soon pushing five divisions back across the Rhône to consolidate the bridgehead and get ready for their own counter-offensive.
At home, land doctrine research continued to progress, with infiltration assault tactics unlocked on the 19th.
The now reinforced Rhône bridgehead came under weak Italian attack from the south on the afternoon of 14 September but was easily held. The Polish counter-offensive started at 1100hr on the 20th, with an attack south from the bridgehead by three divisions which would succeed handsomely two days later, .
The Italians tried to again attack the bridgehead on the night of the 22nd, but this was heavily defeated by 1700hr on the 24th.
The industrial development focus continued back in Poland, as they tried to ramp up domestic capacity to support the higher operational tempo and expansion of the armed forces.
The Polish offensive continued with a successful attack east from the bridgehead on 29 September and a successful defence of the occupied province the next day against a badly disorganised enemy. The Italians still held Grenoble in a narrow salient.
On 3 September Hitler postpones the invasion of Britain, as the Luftwaffe fails to break the British defences. In one of the major misjudgements of the war, on the 7th the Luftwaffe shifts its focus in the Battle of Britain to London, away from the RAF airfields. The invasion of Britain was postponed again later in the month and would never be conducted. The Tripartite Pact was signed in Berlin by Germany, Italy, and Japan on 27 September, promising mutual aid. An informal name, the "Axis", emerged.
By 1 October 1940, the situation in the West was being turned around again, though the Italians still maintained a small foothold in Grenoble and also in southern Tunisia.
Iraq and Iran had been constricted back into a small pocket but continued a last stand.
The situation in China was looking dire, with north-east China cut off and surrounded in two small pockets and the Maoist Mutual Assistance Bloc having made big inroads, while the Fascist Asian League had made an incursion into northern French Indo-China.
Iran looks like it was affected by Trotsky. Slowly rising communist approval may affect post war Iran to join maoists or internationalists, which could be a huge upset of power in the Middle East
In the greater world madness, another revolution broke out in Mexico on 12 July, with the ‘Red Brigades’ soon joining the Communist bloc of choice, Mao’s MAB.
The Piedmont attack was progressing well (94%) by 14 July, but gaps elsewhere led the Poles to embark another two infantry divisions on trains for the Italian Front that evening.
Surely this increasing commitment to a faraway front of war will not leave Poland open to attack from the Soviets, nor will anyone in Poland start to worry about such things and demand that the government recall the troops or else rise up in revolt.
Such things are impossible, for they are not in the Holy Game Code of Paradox, amen.
And another three divisions began the train trip to Italy, as the USR continued to only lightly man the Poland’s eastern border and made no unfriendly diplomatic noises.
One would think the time to do this would be several years ago, so that the industrial capacity developed then might be producing tanks now. However, this would require sane government leadership which of course is an oxymoron.
I will give Paradox this, their portrait of Reza Shah really captures his malevolent evil. Ghazi I looks as vacant as always, no matter his dapper hat, doubtless somewhat confused as to why he is still in power when it was the Army Generals who were the pro-Axis traitors.
Some might be concerned this will encourage Churchill to have other 'good ideas' about strategy. But this is a HOI4 game of madness, so those ideas are probably entirely appropriate.
One would think the time to do this would be several years ago, so that the industrial capacity developed then might be producing tanks now. However, this would require sane government leadership which of course is an oxymoron.
But by the 27th, as the attack continued, the odds were flagging and this worsened until by the 30th, only two attacking divisions were left in the fight; it was clearly now failing and was called off. It was the most expensive battle in terms of casualties and equipment loss so far in the war for the Poles.
And China was in trouble, despite a lost of Allied divisions in the area to assist them – to the detriment of the Italian Front. Quite a few German and French divisions in China proper, the British more on the south-west borders of China and Sinkiang.
It really does look like China could fall to Puyi's alliance, which is certainly making this a bizarre war. It's strange how every country has decided China is the place to be, leaving you to cover all of Europe. Now we just need Trotsky to join the fun and things will be really bizarre!
Maoism as a global force in the 1940's is a crazy thing to see. Not least because arch-internationalist Trotsky is the damp squib sat up in Moscow letting it all happen. Presumably he's biding his time for some totally, astonishingly deranged intervention onto the world stage – the final boss battle of the bizarro world – because there is no way he is going to stay quiet for the whole thing. (Or maybe that would be even crazier? Does that make it more appropriate here? I can barely decide any more…)
Meanwhile the Polish adventure in Savoy continues to chug along decently well. The northern French must be feeling pretty relieved that it's their Occitan cousins who are bearing the brunt of a major conflict for once in living memory.
I'm pretty sure the Chinese food I ordered last night was really Mao's Mab and not actually Pepper Steak.
The Poles are getting deeper into the action but suffering more casualties. Though it does seem like they are getting better at the whole war fighting thing as the war goes on. One would hope.
Have the British and French sent ALL their troops to China? If so, I guess the AI is programmed to send forces to the fornt that's most in trouble (China looks like it's anout to fall). Though that leaves all the work to the Poles and Yugoslavia.
Also, since Polish equipment seems to not be doing all that great, would it be worth disbanding a few divisions to get extra equipment/manpower?
The latest tranche of entrained reinforcements disembarked in Turin on the afternoon of the 16th. A breakdown of the current equipment holdings in the light tank (still waiting for most of their heavy tanks) and motorised divisions is shown.
So far, so good. It looks like your armoured division is only missing a few of the heavy tanks? However, if I remember, the production rate for those is veryslow indeed - something like one tank per week by now, maybe?
On the equipment front, it was decided that the mobile divisions should get some artillery support that could keep up with them, with some SP artillery based on the 7TP chassis being researched.
Sounds good me. The ability to re-purpose the tank chassis is one of the nicer features in HOI4. On the industrial side, I have tended to get artillery and AT production lines up and running before I even think about armoured vehicles, so this is a good way to do both.
A few days later, word came that the war had escalated again – but in an ostensibly good way, with the Mexican Republic joining the Allies and their war effort (or one of them, anyway).
This does seem harmless, doesn't it? I have to say I will be far happier when I see the US joining the Allies... and hopefully Mexico won't manage do anything stupid before that happens!
On 1 April, the Poles leading the advance in the north saw an opportunity to close off a large force of Italian divisions by striking north towards Bolzano and joining up with the Yugoslavs.
This succeeded by the 5th, with eight Italian divisions trapped as some of them tried to break out through Venice.
Linking up with the Yugoslavs and destroying a number of Italian divisions is definitely a good move. Especially so, considering what's happening further south...
The Italian pocket was being closed up by 3 May while the assault over the Po was soaking up thousands of casualties. The latter would be discontinued on the morning of the 11th, with the attempted river crossing having cost an undue number of casualties, becoming Poland’s first defeat of the war.
This was the kind of battle outcome I was concerned about. I hope your equipment stockpiles are still looking healthy after these losses have been replenished.
A strange diplomatic cable arrived on 14 May, announcing that Pakistan (who nobody in Warsaw had heard of to this point) had joined the war against Free India (who already seemed to have been defeated) and then capitulated. Heads were scratched before everyone got on with the job.
Free India was part of the Axis faction and so I think would still exist 'in exile'? I played Free India and had Pakistan rebel against me, so I think the problem here is the game checked Free India owned Pakistan but ignored the fact the provinces were controlled by British Raj. Basically, they rebelled against the wrong India.
In the east, China had reopened the north-eastern corridor, but an apparent Japanese invasion of eastern China seemed to have opened a dangerous new front for Poland’s Chinese allies, as the British made progress in Sinkiang.
The Japanese entry into the war seems likely to change the situation dramatically in Asia and that invasion looks very dangerous indeed to Nationalist China. We could be looking at a heavy Allied defeat here.
Eight days later, the bridgehead over the Po had been secured and the northern Italian pocket almost eliminated, but the Italian offensive had not only retaken all their territory up to the border but had actually crossed into French territory at one point. This triggered a redeployment of three [edit: not 13] more Polish divisions to the Italian front from the 3rd Army as concerns grew of a collapse.
This Italian counter-offensive is quite alarming, but there might be another opportunity opening up here to make a push towards La Spezia and cut off the Italians? In the worst case, you at least have the option now to withdraw into Yugoslavia...
