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This is the first time I've seen that supply map and apart from the fact it looks visually as though there are problems in the east of Poland, it isn't at all clear to me what should be done about it. If it were me, I might try building railways in one area and hubs in another, and see which one worked better.
Yes, it will take me a while to get the hang of the supply mechanic, though I think they've gone to quite some trouble to represent the whole logistics thing. An admirable ambition, I'll work out over time whether it seems to be worth the effort invested by the developers! As to how to deal with it, as you say it will be by experimenting with a few different things that seem for feed into the supply system: railroads, mechanisation of army supply, supply hubs and infrastructure levels. At least.
That one attacking Italian division looks exhausted. Perhaps we've got this all wrong. The Italians aren't invading Algeria - they're reatreating from Libya.
Yes, I know not everyone likes the system, but as a compromise for the game this one has some merit. What I haven't figured out yet is whether and if so how one may be able to directly escort these floating divisions as they perform a transit. Can they escort directly, or you select a mission for the ocean area you hope works? I will have a play when I can with that, but in the interim am happy to receive advice from anyone willing to offer it.
I think re. Supplies that the railroad upgrades should do the job for the most part except in the north (where you aren’t upgrading the rails to the northernmost supply hub), and that one of the big changes you can make, provided you have enough trucks, is to switch from horses to trucks on hauling your supplies from the hub to the division - that button is the one to the right of the upgrade railroads one, or alternatively it can be set on an army by army basis under the portrait of the general in the top left corner when selecting the army .
Great advice, thanks. More on this in the next chapter. The key and wise qualification being "provided you have enough trucks"! Still, I have to experiment now to see if I can get things running better for if we ever have to Tango with Trotsky.
We shall soon see how much fight Musso still has in him. And maybe one of the reasons why the French got wiped out in Tunisia (apart from not sending enough men there and too many to China).
I see the war has continued to progress to the baffling advantage of France. Despite a lot of hiding behind others and some terrible performances when they do turn up, far too much of that map is light blue. It is a sad sight that I hope is fixed in the peace conference. Some might say it would be unusual for the victors to annex someone on their own side during a peace deal, but if Poland and the UK did agree to annex France and divide it between them it would not be unprecedented (probably). And given how little France has actually done do they even count as a 'victor'? Really?
Any advantage to France is baffling, one suspects. Glory thieves! Not sure how the peace conference will work out, but anyway in this game Poland is less about empire-building than it is being part of a winning Allied team. Even if Churchill has been overdosing on the red cool-aid!
Italy chosing to fight on out of North Africa is a bold gameplay choice. And by bold I do of course mean terrible and baffling, like most Paradox gameplay decisions. It has been mentioned that the ongoing efforts to remove all naval warfare or indeed the sea as a concept from Paradox games may be upsetting, I feel quite the contrary. Paradox are so catastrophically bad at anything involving water, and have been for so many decades, that abstracting it away is frankly a mercy to all involved.
Haha, nice play. Given the Polish Navy is very small in this one and (in my foreseeable future anyway) likely to remain of marginal interest, I'll be able to maintain some blissful ignorance in that regard. Off to eat some lotuses! [NB: reference below for general info: I'm sure you would be all across this one, El Pip, no lack of knowledge of the Classics implied. ]
ORP Wicher, the lead ship of the Wicher class, was a Polish Navy destroyer and the flagship of the Polish Navy. In OTL, sunk on 3 September 1939.
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1-9 March 1941 – The Ocean Blue
At midnight, the order went to the fleet in Gdynia: they received a commanding Admiral, Jósef Unrug, and would sail in two separate groups (DD and SS) to a new base in Sicily. It was thought they may as well be prepared to do something, with Polish troops in Algeria and Libya.
Bulgaria signed the Tripartite Pact on 1 March, joining the Axis powers.
A couple of days later, as the destroyers were in the Bay of Biscay, word came of another naval battle off Oran. They were diverted to the safety of Gibraltar instead, where they could still be near to Oran if required.
The orders for the subs, still well to the north, were not changed. They would patrol past North Africa to see what they could see. The Polish destroyers would arrive in Gibraltar without incident on the morning of the 4th.
After a few days of relative quiet, the Italians opened an attack on 18 DP, south-east of Oran, early on 3 March. To the north, the Italian subs seemed to be trying to prevent some more Allied divisions from landing in Oran. The enemy had 13 subs, while the French fielded an escort force of a CL and 10 x DD.
18 DP had only just made it there before the Italians and had not yet been able to dig in. But the Italians lacked organisation at the start and the fight would be won the following morning.
By the evening of 5 March, the Italians had brought up more divisions and were starting to envelope the Poles in Oran with at least six divisions in their advancing front.
Over in Libya, KPA-East had closed up to the front line around El Agheila by that time, while the British attempted a difficult attack in the middle of a sandstorm.
An hour later, the Poles had added 2 DP to the attack, leaving the other three in reserve for exploitation.
A day later, 2 DP had reinforced, as had the British 75th Infantry. Low supply was affecting both sides, but it was worse for the Italians. The battle would be won by the Allies on the afternoon of the 7th, with the whole of KPA-East joining the coastal advance.
The first British soldiers from North Africa arrived in Greece on 7 March, the advance elements of Operation Lustre. It launched earlier and far more successfully in this a-history, as an attack on rather than a defence of Greece.
Over in Algeria, the Italians continued to surround Oran and now had at least nine divisions in the sector as the Poles entrenched as much as they could.
Early on 9 March, reports came of a naval encounter in the Western Med, north of Tunis. The Italian wolf-pack (now only numbering 12 subs) was clashing with a French troop convoy, the three passing Polish subs and another from the Netherlands. This battle was in range of French air cover, which should help things a little.
The battle had ended by the 15th, with more French ships having been called in and the Polish subs emerging largely unscathed, though the French did lose one transport.
The Italian Spring Offensive began in the Greco-Italian War on 9 March. Benito Mussolini, in a radio address from Albania, announced that he was personally commanding the offensive. No doubt dooming it to the complete failure it would suffer after just one week. Their Algerian offensive is going better in the ATL, anyway.
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10-23 March 1941 – Blood on the Sand
The next phase of the fighting in Libya saw the British attacking to the south while the Polish exploitation force struck the next Italian coastal defensive position on the afternoon of 10 March, as 2 DP rested and regrouped. The fight would last for four days, with the Italians eventually defeated and suffering heavy casualties.
In Algeria, it was the Italians on the offensive, with twin attacks launched late on 12 March. The enemy were soon making progress in both Tlemcen (to the north) and Algiers province (to the south).
The Italians kept the pressure up as the French sent in the 2nd Armd Div (still disorganised from their naval transit) on the 14th, initially in Tlemcen but then heading south, while the Polish defence held for now.
The Polish sub flotilla reached the safety of port near Palermo on the night of 15 March, two of the boats having suffered very minor damage during their transit.
A second French mechanised division (the 4th) had arrived in Oran by early 16 March, a welcome addition to the defensive effort. The Poles continued to hold in Tlemcen, but things were getting more difficult to the south.
The following morning, Tlemcen was in the balance and the defence to the south was getting harder, with 18 DP assailed by four Italian divisions.
Things were worse in the south by the next afternoon, despite the arrival of the French 2nd Armd in reserve. General Źeligowski considered the position untenable, especially with Tlemcen still under heavy pressure: 18 DP was ordered to withdraw.
It took until midday on the 19th to break contact. The battle was lost, though 18 DP was still in fighting order if rather disorganised and the Italians had paid dearly for victory.
As KPA-West kept the Italians occupied around Oran, KPA-East worked with the British to continue the grinding advance through Libya, towards Tripoli. As 18 DP withdrew in Algeria, the British initiated another attack inland from the Libyan coast.
Seeing it was in some difficulty, 5 and 7 DP was assigned to support it from the flank. 5 DP had reinforced by that afternoon turning the battle firmly in favour of the Allies.
The safe arrival of both 18 DP and the French 2nd Armd back in Tlemcen ensured a hard-fought Polish defensive victory won by the start of 20 March.
As the inland Anglo-Polish attack continued, at midday on 21 March an Italian infantry division arrived to block the coastal drive by 2 and 34 DPs: they swung into an encounter battle.
Back in the homeland, the supply situation was reviewed again. With poor supply in the south-east, which had the heaviest concentration of troops and aircraft, it was decided that an experiment would be tried. Supply for the 1st Army was motorised (first level). Infrastructure levels would also be reviewed before the month was over.
Note: not sure whether adding more supply hubs would be useful or not, given what I assume are rail distribution and infrastructure limits as well. The ‘Level 3’ reference is a I assume the lowest common denominator for the rail supply route from Warsaw to Łuck. And I would soon discover the huge increase in demand for trucks the motorisation of supply for 1st Army would cause.
By the morning of 23 March, the small pocket around Oran was completely surrounded. One (poorly organised) medium German panzer division had appeared to the west, but it was unclear how much they could or would do to relieve the pressure on the Franco-Polish defence of the last Allied-held Algerian port. [I see this rather resembling the OTL siege of Tobruk: the ‘Rats of Oran’!]
The battle in Sirte was won by the British and Polish attackers at 0900hr on the 23rd with the troops well on the way to securing it. To the north, the Polish coastal attack was running into determined resistance. The Italians had managed to dig in while both sides were having supply problems.
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This was the situation in North Africa after a little over three weeks of March 1941. The next update will include comprehensive reports on the other theatres of the wider war. But as 23 March ended, reports from East Asia indicated the situation remained difficult but that the ‘North China Pocket’ had still not been over-run.
Thank you for updating. Can you answer a basic question for a H4 novice? Where are the circled numbers at battle-sites? I guess green balloons are good guys winning, red balloons are evil guys winning, but what is yellow balloons and what do the numbers represent? Thank you
Thank you for updating. Can you answer a basic question for a H4 novice? Where are the circled numbers at battle-sites? I guess green balloons are good guys winning, red balloons are evil guys winning, but what is yellow balloons and what do the numbers represent? Thank you
Yes, they track battle progress. The number is the progress of the battle as a % and yellow means the momentum of the battle is in the balance. The bar on the battle screen shows which side is winning on a spectrum that relates to the progress bubble: attacker on the left, reddish, defenders on the right, blue. The health bars for each unit relate to organisation (morale) and strength.
Mixed news from North Africa, if nothing else the Italians who choose to fight on will have established a reputation for being good fighters. And for being idiots for choosing to fight on in such utterly doomed circumstances.
Good luck to the Rats of Oran, the prospect of a German panzer division racing across the desert to relieve the siege is quite the reversal from OTL! I hope for success, but there is the enormous drag factor of the French being present so I am naturally concerned.
By the evening of 5 March, the Italians had brought up more divisions and were starting to envelope the Poles in Oran with at least six divisions in their advancing front.
The next phase of the fighting in Libya saw the British attacking to the south while the Polish exploitation force struck the next Italian coastal defensive position
A second French mechanised division (the 4th) had arrived in Oran by early 16 March, a welcome addition to the defensive effort. The Poles continued to hold in Tlemcen, but things were getting more difficult to the south.
Note: not sure whether adding more supply hubs would be useful or not, given what I assume are rail distribution and infrastructure limits as well. The ‘Level 3’ reference is a I assume the lowest common denominator for the rail supply route from Warsaw to Łuck. And I would soon discover the huge increase in demand for trucks the motorisation of supply for 1st Army would cause.
You can build more railroads/supply hubs, but it takes time (time that could be used for building other things). Supply hubs especially take a long while.
The Level 3 could also be the level of infrastructure in the state?
And yes, you need tons of trucks to successfully motorize.
I can imagine the future of this timeline having historical documentaries specifically focused on the North China Pocket. It will probably be a popular setting for wartime dramas. Of course, as the AAR is still progressing, its up in the air whether the story of the brave souls in the North China Pocket will be a tale of holding out against impossible odds and snatching victory when it seemed inevitable it would fall into the jaws of defeat.....or a tale of brave souls holding out for a long time and fighting to their bitter end; basically serving as this wars Alamo.
By the morning of 23 March, the small pocket around Oran was completely surrounded. One (poorly organised) medium German panzer division had appeared to the west, but it was unclear how much they could or would do to relieve the pressure on the Franco-Polish defence of the last Allied-held Algerian port. [I see this rather resembling the OTL siege of Tobruk: the ‘Rats of Oran’!]
Oran looks like it might very well become the anvil to the British/Polish hammer advancing through Libya. Those Italian divisions really do not look in the best of shape. It is a valiant effort, but I should think doomed.
At midnight, the order went to the fleet in Gdynia: they received a commanding Admiral, Jósef Unrug, and would sail in two separate groups (DD and SS) to a new base in Sicily. It was thought they may as well be prepared to do something, with Polish troops in Algeria and Libya.
Well I guess the Polish Navy should be doing something? Operating in the Med, where the Allies must now enjoy a large degree of naval superiority, seems like a good place to start.
Over in Libya, KPA-East had closed up to the front line around El Agheila by that time, while the British attempted a difficult attack in the middle of a sandstorm.
To be honest, all the divisions on both sides look like they're only just about hanging on... apart from the Poles, who appear fresh. It may be lack of supply is affecting everybody?
A second French mechanised division (the 4th) had arrived in Oran by early 16 March, a welcome addition to the defensive effort. The Poles continued to hold in Tlemcen, but things were getting more difficult to the south.
Things were worse in the south by the next afternoon, despite the arrival of the French 2nd Armd in reserve. General Źeligowski considered the position untenable, especially with Tlemcen still under heavy pressure: 18 DP was ordered to withdraw.
The ‘Level 3’ reference is a I assume the lowest common denominator for the rail supply route from Warsaw to Łuck. And I would soon discover the huge increase in demand for trucks the motorisation of supply for 1st Army would cause.
Yes, I would agree the game is encouraging you to upgrade that particular section of the rail network. Just how bad is the truck situation now you're attempting to supply 1st Army? Does that just show as a sudden equipment deficit?
By the morning of 23 March, the small pocket around Oran was completely surrounded. One (poorly organised) medium German panzer division had appeared to the west, but it was unclear how much they could or would do to relieve the pressure on the Franco-Polish defence of the last Allied-held Algerian port.
Oran looks like it could be a difficult position to hold, and the Italians are in far better shape than the unreliable French. I did notice the German panzer division had landed in Oran in one of the earlier screenshots. They must have decided to move further west to reorganise, because sadly they're in no condition to do anything useful for quite some time.
Mixed news from North Africa, if nothing else the Italians who choose to fight on will have established a reputation for being good fighters. And for being idiots for choosing to fight on in such utterly doomed circumstances.
Good luck to the Rats of Oran, the prospect of a German panzer division racing across the desert to relieve the siege is quite the reversal from OTL! I hope for success, but there is the enormous drag factor of the French being present so I am naturally concerned.
Theirs is a tough position, but the more they dig in, the harder they will be to dislodge. The French presence is incidental: still better something than nothing, and supply seems to be holding up.
We can hope so! One suspects there are more ahistorical twists and turns to come, though. And in the meantime, they may be singing The East is Red fairly soon!
Yes, they should be (there is a look at that in the next chapter). For now, the Italian 'rump state' must producing some supply, though you'd think it and equipment holdings would have to be getting depleted with their now very limited production capacity.
You can build more railroads/supply hubs, but it takes time (time that could be used for building other things). Supply hubs especially take a long while.
The Level 3 could also be the level of infrastructure in the state?
And yes, you need tons of trucks to successfully motorize.
There is a fair bit more on this in the next update, as the Eye of Sauron stayed fixed on home supply and logistic issues. I was thinking the 3 is rail (infra is at 60% throughout at the moment) but those who know more about the game may glean such from the coming screenshots.
I can imagine the future of this timeline having historical documentaries specifically focused on the North China Pocket. It will probably be a popular setting for wartime dramas. Of course, as the AAR is still progressing, its up in the air whether the story of the brave souls in the North China Pocket will be a tale of holding out against impossible odds and snatching victory when it seemed inevitable it would fall into the jaws of defeat.....or a tale of brave souls holding out for a long time and fighting to their bitter end; basically serving as this wars Alamo.
Oran looks like it might very well become the anvil to the British/Polish hammer advancing through Libya. Those Italian divisions really do not look in the best of shape. It is a valiant effort, but I should think doomed.
This is what we hope for, but that hammer remains a very long arm swing away from the Italians clustering around the anvil! They can draw some inspiration from the protracted resistance of their Allied comrades in the China Pocket. And the fact there are Poles pushing from the east.
Well I guess the Polish Navy should be doing something? Operating in the Med, where the Allies must now enjoy a large degree of naval superiority, seems like a good place to start.
To be honest, all the divisions on both sides look like they're only just about hanging on... apart from the Poles, who appear fresh. It may be lack of supply is affecting everybody?
Yes, I would agree the game is encouraging you to upgrade that particular section of the rail network. Just how bad is the truck situation now you're attempting to supply 1st Army? Does that just show as a sudden equipment deficit?
Ah, you will see that in the coming update. Yes, we suddenly go from having about enough to a huge deficit. But better to discover this now than in the moment after Trotsky invades!
Oran looks like it could be a difficult position to hold, and the Italians are in far better shape than the unreliable French. I did notice the German panzer division had landed in Oran in one of the earlier screenshots. They must have decided to move further west to reorganise, because sadly they're in no condition to do anything useful for quite some time.
At least now they've been there long enough to dig in well. The numbers are difficult, though. Yes, the Germans came in through Oran but didn't stay, heading west before trying to come back (but remaining too far under strength/disorganised to make any impression).
Next chapter follows soon!
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Chapter Thirteen – The Rats of Oran (24-31 March 1941)
Chapter Thirteen – The Rats of Oran (24-31 March 1941)
As the Polish troops dug in to resist around Oran, Mussolini (William Joyce, aka ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ in OTL) began describing the besieged men as living like rats in underground dug-outs and caves. In radio broadcasts, he derisively referred to and addressed the garrison as the "rats of Oran".
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24-31 March 1941 – North Africa
Early on 24 March, KPA-East was carrying much of the fight in Libya, attacking along the coast and defending inland, with Sirte held easily by 5 and 7 DPs after an eleven hour skirmish inland as the coastal attack continued against a persistent Italian defence.
With the battle for Sirte won that afternoon and the arrival of Polish forces, 5 PD was immediately thrown into a flanking attack on El Agheila, where 2 and 35 DPs were starting to get bogged down.
By midnight 5 DP had reinforced and the battle had swung back into the Poles’ favour and it was only won early on the 28th after a difficult battle which brought heavy casualties on both sides. The front around Oran remained quiet throughout 24-25 March.
In an uncanny parallel, German forces retook El Agheila on 24 March. No such reprieve for the Italians in our story.
On 26 March, Polish construction plans were completely revised. Only a small number of the planned railway upgrades in and around Białystok were retained on the work plan, with the next priority going to infrastructure improvements in the east instead, where supply problems were worst. The delayed factory construction would then be resumed in Poznan.
The supply situation in eastern Poland was reviewed again on the 26th. There were enough trains but far more convoys would be needed to deliver all the overseas lend lease being offered; only two were needed for domestic purposes at that time.
With a large truck deficit following the motorisation of supply in 1st Army, early on the 26th Germany offered some lend-lease Opel trucks (which happily would not need convoys to move them to Poland). A third military factory was allocated to production of Polish Ursus A trucks, switched from Light SP Artillery (of which there was now a surplus).
The French were handling supply by sea to the beleaguered Rats of Oran.
The Yugoslav coup d'état occurred on 27 March. Dušan Simović and other Serb nationalist officers in the Royal Yugoslav Air Force overthrew Yugoslavia's pro-Axis government and intended to back out of the Tripartite Pact, which had been signed on the 25th after a German ultimatum. When Hitler learned of the coup he issued ordered the invasion of Yugoslavia.
The next day, 17-year-old Peter II took the oath of King of Yugoslavia in Belgrade as crowds cheered. Germany and Yugoslavia severed diplomatic relations on the 31st. Of course, in this ATL democratic Germany came to Yugoslavia’s aid in the war against Italy.
King Peter II of Yugoslavia.
Just before dawn on 28 March, the Italians renewed their attack on the Polish defensive positions to the east of Oran with four divisions against 6 and 10 DPs. The terrain and entrenchment favoured the defenders, while the Italians had the numbers.
The attack started in the Italians’ favour and was still going as the month ended, swinging slightly back in favour of the Poles as the attackers tired more quickly.
Over in Libya, at the end of the 31st the British were having trouble with an attack along the coast against entrenched Italian resistance. All sides were having problems with supply, but at midnight all four Polish divisions of KPA-East were ordered to join in the attack.
At sea, a fairly large naval action between Allied forces including Dutch destroyers, an approaching British flotilla of cruisers and destroyers with French air support and an Italian task force led by the battleship RN Andrea Doria was in progress in Palma de Mallorca.
The RN Andrea Doria.
Hundreds of kilometres still separated KPA-West in Oran from KPA-East in Libya.
As the month drew to a close, four new lend-lease offers had been made to Poland from 15-31 March. All were being accepted for now, even though there were not nearly enough convoys to deliver the full amount of those requiring sea transport – especially the big new offer from the US.
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Theatre Summaries
The war continued to go nominally well in favour of the Allies, mainly due to the war in Europe, but the situation in Asia was far more difficult, with the Communist MAB (with heavy Japanese support and a few Soviet volunteers) doing better than the Fascist Asian League. China remained in danger of capitulation, but that remained some distance off yet.
Against all the odds, the China Pocket still held out stubbornly, but was now restricted to just three provinces.
The Fascists had control of almost all of northern Ind-China.
While Japan had made large inroads into British and Dutch territory in Borneo, where a large theatre was seeing heavy fighting.
In south-east China, the Allies were in danger of being sewn up in a series of pockets in between Communist and Fascist forces.
In the north-west, the Allies generally had a little more depth but eight divisions were trapped by the Fascists in a pocket west of Kunming.
While in Fascist Sinkiang, British and German forces had made some inroads.
Even though Iraq had supposedly capitulated, they were fighting on stubbornly enough, while mainly Anglo-French forces continued to push the Iranians back.
The leftist rebellion in Mexico had almost been crushed by the pro-Allied Republican forces, with both Communist and Allied expeditionary forces supporting both sides.
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Selected Political and Diplomatic Reports
Other than supplying a bit of expeditionary support to their ideological brethren, Trotsky’s USR remained out of the war – and were even trying to improve relations with Germany.
Poland continued its current focus on improving its industrial base, currently in Kraków. Stability was slowly building through the improvement of worker conditions, with factory output now slightly improved instead of being hindered.
President Mościcki’s government retained considerable political capital, war support was fairly strong and there was an ample manpower reserve.
France currently fielded 82 divisions, scattered through France, Italy, the Middle East and a few in North Africa. The rest seemed to be operating in China and Vietnam.
Interestingly, the UK currently fielded similar numbers of divisions and factories to the Germans – and had a (presumably dormant) war goal to puppet the US! Both countries maintained good relations with Poland.
The US had just offered some significant lend-lease support to Poland, even though diplomatic relations were a little on the negative side due to differing political systems. The Republican President Willkie remained well out of the current war, including that on his doorstep in Mexico.
The US Army remained comparatively small for a major power and military production low. However, the US’s civilian industrial might was huge and much could presumably be converted to military production in time, should they buy into the world conflict in the future.
Imperial Kwantung (formerly Manchukuo) remained the clear leader of the Fascist Asian League. And though fighting in tandem with the Communist MAB against the Allies, Emperor Puyi also clearly harboured ambitions against his current allies of convenience, and the Communist Japanese against him.
The world at the end of March 1941 was not in a full global war, though state-against-state conflict still extended in a band from Africa through the Middle East to Asia (not including the civil war in Mexico).
Looks like the army in Iran could go to China soon enough. The war in Europe is bascially over and just a walk through Africa now, so those armies and airforce will be coming over too. Not too worried about Asia on land. Moreso the island losses, which will be much harder for rhe AI to get back...
The supply situation in eastern Poland was reviewed again on the 26th. There were enough trains but far more convoys would be needed to deliver all the overseas lend lease being offered; only two were needed for domestic purposes at that time.
The deficit in trucks (and indeed in convoys) doesn't look too bad at this point. I would hope Poland's factories and shipyards might be able to remedy that over the course of a few months?
The attack started in the Italians’ favour and was still going as the month ended, swinging slightly back in favour of the Poles as the attackers tired more quickly.
Over in Libya, at the end of the 31st the British were having trouble with an attack along the coast against entrenched Italian resistance. All sides were having problems with supply, but at midnight all four Polish divisions of KPA-East were ordered to join in the attack.
The desert war looks tough and set to run for quite some time, and I suspect you are losing quite a lot of men and equipment to attrition now? However, I am considerably reassured the Rats will be able to continue to hold out now that they've succeeded in beating off that strong Italian push. Mussolini can't have very many divisions remaining and is surely going to be hard pressed keeping them supplied and reinforced with whatever industry he still has in Africa.
As the month drew to a close, four new lend-lease offers had been made to Poland from 15-31 march. All were being accepted for now, even though there were not nearly enough convoys to deliver the full amount of those requiring sea transport – especially the big new offer from the US.
Yes, that looks very bad indeed. A lot more Allied divisions are going to be destroyed. Can you remind me whether the Communist and Fascist blocs are currently at war with each other or not?
Interestingly, the UK currently fielded similar numbers of divisions and factories to the Germans – and had a (presumably dormant) war goal to puppet the US!
With a large truck deficit following the motorisation of supply in 1st Army, early on the 26th Germany offered some lend-lease Opel trucks (which happily would not need convoys to move them to Poland). A third military factory was allocated to production of Polish Ursus A trucks, switched from Light SP Artillery (of which there was now a surplus).
As the month drew to a close, four new lend-lease offers had been made to Poland from 15-31 March. All were being accepted for now, even though there were not nearly enough convoys to deliver the full amount of those requiring sea transport – especially the big new offer from the US.
An interesting note about the AI: you can kind of force it to send you equipment through lend-lease by purposely having a deficit. So you could, theoretically, train many one-width divisions, have the AI give you infantry equipment through a lease, then delete the divisions to get the equipment back.
I don't think Poland needs to do this, but the option is there should you need it against a certain hibernating bear.
Other than supplying a bit of expeditionary support to their ideological brethren, Trotsky’s USR remained out of the war – and were even trying to improve relations with Germany.
President Mościcki’s government retained considerable political capital, war support was fairly strong and there was an ample manpower reserve.
France currently fielded 82 divisions, scattered through France, Italy, the Middle East and a few in North Africa. The rest seemed to be operating in China and Vietnam.
Interestingly, the UK currently fielded similar numbers of divisions and factories to the Germans – and had a (presumably dormant) war goal to puppet the US!
Lend-Lease from Moose (Canada), Wild Turkeys (US), Kiwis (New Zealand), Boars (South Africa), Magpies (Germany) and Mermen (Netherlands); but where is the mighty Wombats? WC to staff "Go Big or be retired by the voters. Let us retake Southern Canada." Thank you for updating.
Continued mixed progress in the war, the Med is taking a lot longer than hoped to 'mop up' as the Italians are doing suspiciously well for an Army in exile with zero industrial base to support it.
While I feel sure the Rats will hold out, the question is will the Chinese pocket hold out long enough for any useful support to reach the Far East? Maybe not from the Med, but surely Iran/Iraq have to be on the ropes which will free up those troops. If not that thrust up through Sinkiang looks promising so maybe that might relieve a bit of pressure if the League redeploys to meet that threat.
Looks like UK wants their 13(+) colonies back :O
Polish spies should probably know that, but they better pray UK don't attack US causing Americans to join Maoists or Fascists.
Italian minority is quite huge in US so it may push US for that, we'll see...
What's more there are no guarantees, that USR won't join together with US wanting to get something in Poland, Asia or maybe "liberate" some colonies.
Imperialist Churchil can't stop surprising me xd
