Chapter 64: 15 to 27 February 1949
15 February
The largest battle for the period ended as it the second half of February began, with a defensive victory in Kandahar at 0000hr (Soviets 228/8,998; Allies 474/7,192 killed). The pressure was kept up over the next two weeks, with steady momentum maintained.
In Greece, Salonica fell into Soviet hands at 0900hr as the advance their gained pace.
But in Malaya, the Allies sought to regain some initiative with an amphibious landing in Teluk Anson under Dutch command. Soviet Marines were sent from Singapore to confront them.
Up in southern Austria, Liebnitz fell that evening and seeing a large gap in the Allied line, a dash to the coast was ordered.
16 February
On the German front, in the north a tough battle for Bremerhaven was finally won early on the 16th as the Soviets still tried to find a river crossing to take Bremen.
It took a while for the Soviet NAV to react to the landing at Teluk Anson, with the first strike conducted from 1100-1400hr. It revealed a large Dutch naval force in the Straits of Malacca. The more distant NAV group (based in Saigon) joined during the raid.
In Greece, the battle for Serres was won at 1100hr as the Soviets attempted to break through the Allied defences in the north, with the opposition coming mainly from Greek and Italian forces (Soviets 310/45,978; Allies 1,207/9,128 killed).
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17-18 February
Although NAV raids continued on the Dutch fleet and considerable damage was done, no ships were sunk before the amphibious force got ashore. It turned out to be a corps of US Marines who got ashore at 0000hr on the 17th.
When the size of the landing became clear, two more divisions were redirected from Burma and the Bangkok garrison was also put on trains for Kota Bahru, as the other Soviet division in northern Malaya also marched to the new front.
In southern Germany, progress was still being strongly opposed as a victory in Bamberg came at 0400hr on the 18th as the push on Stuttgart and Munich was made (Soviets 816/51,972; Allies 1,343/13,570 killed).
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19-20 February
A long and tough battle in central Hungary ended on the morning of the 19th, illustrating the chaotic nature of combat in the recently surrendered former Allied countries of central Europe.
Soon after, after a number of attempts and a heavy air preparation, Soviet troops finally broke into Bremen later that morning.
Zagreb fell to the Soviets without opposition an hour later as Allied opposition in northern Yugoslavia essentially dissolved.
Over in Malaya, the Dutch-American beachhead had expanded to three provinces wide as they headed inland to Raub and the undefended Kuala Lumpur by midday. But by the end of the day, Nürnberg had been occupied as Germany edged towards capitulation.
Late on the 20th Aarhus in Denmark fell to the Soviets, as Germany hung on.
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21 February
Victory in Gelnhausen at the start of 21 February paved the way for a breakthrough towards Frankfurt am Main.
Two hours later, the second French nuclear reactor in Timisoara was secured by the Soviets.
In northern Greece, the battle for the key fort of Giannitsa was won a little later in the morning.
At midday, with a hard-fought victory in Virovitica, the Soviets now aimed to drive south all the way to Zara.
Kuala Lumpur fell to the 27th US Marine Division as the Dutch liberated an expanding swathe of British territory.
The Soviets worked to expand the bridgehead south of Bremen with a heavy victory in Minden, again aided by heavy VVS support.
That night, the Soviet marines in Chittagong were cut off by an Indian division which slipped into Rangamati before the follow-on Soviet forces could secure it. A counter-attack went in straight away, with the marines joining in an hour after that when the initial attack ran into stout opposition. The battle would eventually be won the following morning.
22 February
The next major tranche of Far East reinforcements neared the front early that morning, even as the Allies were already collapsing on the Western Front. They were directed onwards, but it appeared they would not really be needed.
The French resistance in Romania remained stubborn as the Soviets attempted to clear up the chaotic situation.
In the south of the Malayan beachhead, first contact was made by the Soviet marines against their US counterparts in Malacca at 1900hr, as they tried to slow down the Allied breakout.
An hour later, Soviet troops had defeated some nominal German resistance in Munich and were approaching its outskirts. To the north, a Soviet armoured breakout had dashed to the outskirts of the temporary German capital of Dusseldorf.
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23 February
Munich fell early the next morning and it was the final straw for the Germans: fighting would continue for the rest of the day, but a delegation was already
en route to the Soviets to agree terms.
An hour later Soviet troops occupied Beograd but they were not yet ready to surrender themselves. In Greece, a single Soviet tank division was approaching Athens.
Three hours later, 28 Tank Div was attempting to blitz their way into Athens. But it would take another two days and VVS assistance to take the Greek capital. However, that was not enough to make the Greeks surrender, as the conquest of Crete would be required to force them to the negotiating table.
Over in East Pakistan, the supply line to Chittagong was reopened at 1100hr with the reoccupation of Rangamati. Then at 1400hr, Soviet armour rolled into Capodistria on the Adriatic coast, after which they turned north-west to Trieste, while another tank division had reached Rijeka, two provinces to the south-east.
The Germans’ plight was made even worse when Dusseldorf fell at 1500hr to another fast-moving Soviet tank division, four provinces in front of the rest of the front line at that time.
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24-25 February
Germany formally surrendered at midnight, with Prussia and Silesia being annexed as the DDR was declared.
This gave the Comintern 13 out of their possible 15 victory conditions.
Trieste was in Soviet hands by the afternoon of 25 February as northern Italy now lay open to the Soviet advance, which had now cut off all the Allied troops remaining in the Balkans.
Even though the German surrender had been secured, the Soviets decided to push on a little further to ensure Yugoslavia also fell into the Comintern sphere of control.
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26-27 February
Two technical advances came late in the month, including in Soviet missile technology.
The Yugoslav surrender was secured after the capture of Skopje at 1800hr on the 26th.
With that capitulation at 0000hr on the 27th, the first Soviet units had just crossed the border into the Netherlands and were approaching the Belgian and French borders, fighting a screen of French divisions that was pulling back to their own territory.
The Danish and German fronts at as 0000hr on 27 February 1949.
Bulgaria and Greece at as 0000hr on 27 February 1949.
Some more advances had been made in eastern Iran and Afghanistan, and the first territory in West Pakistan had been occupied.
Central Asia at as 0000hr on 27 February 1949.
The Allies had secured a large wedge of Malaya by 27 February, as the first Soviet holding attacks to the north and south continued.
Malaya at as 0000hr on 27 February 1949.
Saudi Arabia was finally invited into the Comintern, even as Allied and Soviet emissaries met in Luxembourg for peace talks.
Peace
World War Three formally ended that day. The details of the settlement would be hashed out over coming days, but the armistice was signed as the guns fell silent around the world. Denmark, Greece and Albania remained with the Allies and Soviet troops would be withdrawn from their territory. In return, all Romanian territory would be freed and Transylvania returned to them from Hungary on pre-WW2 boundaries. Poland would soon be ‘liberated’ (on OTL borders) and a new defensive pact would later be signed in Warsaw.
European allegiances.
European political map (on signing of the armistice, prior to territorial adjustments).
In Asia, the Allies would pull out of eastern Iran and the Soviets from East Pakistan and Malaya. The rest of French Indo-China would be combined with the Soviet satellites and split into the component Peoples republics of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Burma would be liberated as an independent non-aligned country. Nationalist China, Mengukuo and Manchukuo would be combined and renamed as the Peoples Republic of China, initially under Soviet domination.
Peru remained the sole Comintern outpost in South America.
South America allegiances.
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Epilogue
And so the main body of this AAR ends. A conditional win, as the initial aim of winning with AI field command and then handicapped player micro-control of combat had to be abandoned. I hope those who have stuck with this story have enjoyed the ride, even if it ended up being a little less ‘quick’ and ‘dirty’ as I had originally intended. Thanks for all your support along the way, dear readAARs.
