Red Flag over Asia: A Soviet AAR

[Charles Louis]

This AAR examines the use of two strategies. One is an HoI2 favorite of mine, get involved in the war in China as soon as possible. The other is opened up by the new political, intelligence, and diplomatic options of HoI3, and that is to co-opt the Allies by using spies to expand their communist parties until they are my friends.

The Allies
Getting the allies to fall to domestic communist parties will be a job for intelligence. I start with a lot of spies in UK and France, so I just have to maintain them and send a few more, and assign them the job of supporting our party. I look elsewhere for other nations that might be susceptible and find only Venezuela. I include them as well. They might prove to be a beach-head into the Americas.

Asia
In Asia I need Communist China, and indeed they start aligning themselves to me right away. But her neutrality is so high, she seeks to avoid my involvement and perhaps end up getting roped into my broader agenda of global revolution. After the Long March and given the challenges of Chinese Communism, they regard the challenge of revolution in China enough of a long term vision.

We in Moscow see a bigger picture.

We also start working in diplomatic efforts on Sinkang, between China proper and our central Asian republics.

Our goal is to get Singkang and ChiCom into our faction, fight the Japanese, capture Manchuria, Sakhalin Island, and Korea. Get Chinese Communists some land in Shanxi, and then wait for the right moment to take out the Nationalists and make China one great Communist domain. Hopefully by that point we will have new socialist friends in the industrialized west, or at worst can turn west to face the fascist menace without concerns in the east.

 

[Charles Louis]

In the early phase, we see little progress other than the inclusion of Singkang in the Comintern. Mao resists participating in the Communist International and its mission of global revolution. On the other hand, our efforts in UK, France, Venezuela, and the United States begin to bear some fruit.

In USA, only 4% popularity has been achieved, so Stalin ordered its data removed from official images by the use of talented airbrush artists. Progress shown looks promising.

In Asia, we see Japan invade China over some pretext fabricated at the Marco Polo Bridge. We send supplies to China in Operation Zet, but our own domestic problems, including our purges prevent us from reducing our neutrality sufficiently to get involved.

Japan invades in force, pulling troops out of Manchuria, achieves success and puts troops back in Manchuria to defend against us (and we do have designs on Manchuria). Its a prudent strategy, putting troops where they can do the most good, but the AI has difficulty pulling it off. They end up doing well when Manchuria is vulnerable and then doing poorly when they defend Manchuria. Given that I have plans for Manchuria, I am glad the AI wants to defend it, but the AI doesn't realize at the production level that it is having trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time. It should spam garrison troops for Manchuria and use the infantry to deal with China.

Three times Japan invades China, and three times she is pushed back. The first two times by Nationalist forces, but the third time by Communist China.

This created a crisis for the Soviets. The Communist Chinese were finally in our faction, (she joined Nov '37) but had not called on us to join her in China. Now in April of '38 she was advancing, and we could see her troop strength and it was inevitable that once Japanese divisions were pulled from our border, Chi Com would be defeated, perhaps totally. So, we declared war on Japan.

Manchuria was well defended (given what the Japanese had available) but Soviet Russia simply had seen this front as the location for its buildup. We added two units of interceptors at Vladivostok two units of close air support (ultimately destined for the west, but we built them now because of per unit cost and single engine practicals) also at Vladivostok, and four units of tac air, one assigned to the Transbaikal Front and one to the the Second Army with some Sakhalin duties as well.

We built two corps of mountain divisions an armored division a motorized division and a dozen or so infantry divisions. Now it was rolling into Manchuria against a foe who had too little to hold us pack.

 

[loki100]

neat premise and ideas - be interesting to see a Soviet Far East first strategy in operation.

good luck!

 

[Charles Louis]

Ten weeks later, we annexed Manchuria and everything looked rather like this:

Chi Com had a problem in Shanxi in that half the territory was Nat Chinese, so she puppeted them. It was disappointing, but reasonable under the circumstances. The game doesn't seem to understand we would not just prop up the I "heart" emperor society, so I had to edit the save game to put the Maoist Peasants and Workers Party in charge. Back in game, USSR sent spies to Shanxi with orders to support the ruling party.

I rather miss the Victoria province by province politics, because had Chi Com annexed Shanxi, we would have suffered no change to the political situation. Support for the Peasants and Workers Party would have simply been the same as it was when Chi Com sat in Yuan. I would not have been useful to send spies to Shanxi and prepare the people for Communism if Chi Com just annexed them. The politics of Shanxi follows the name of Shanxi, rather than involving actual places where people hold opinions. Alas.

We started out near zero, but quickly saw some support for the party in the new people's republic.

Korea quickly fell and I was confronted with what to do next. Invasion of Japan was really out of the question, given our only fleet improvements had been in submarine tech and submarine building. We had hoped to sink supply ships further harming Japanese supply. We sank ships. I don't know how much it mattered.

So we returned Korea and kept the southern half of Sakhalin Island. I used changeowner to transfer the three provinces to Sov. Japan was happy to get Korea back.

 

[Charles Louis]

Back in Europe, a quick check of the communist parties in Europe reveals that I'm having extraordinary success. Really too much success.

Its interesting to think about what might have happened had UK and France gone Red, but I'm really having a great deal of success in a very short period of time. UK has a communist party that is most popular among 19% of the people. Labor is 17%, Liberal 16%, and Conservative 26%. On the contrary, in US I've gone from 3% for socialist and 2% for socialist workers, and nothing for communist, to 7% communist and 3% socialist.

I'm also using my spies to get German threat up. I was also doing Japan, until I defeated them. German threat was 9.52 in Sept '37, and now its 15.17.

So I add infantry to the Finnish border, tanks to the German border, and mountain troops on the Turkish and Persian borders.

Half a year later in May of '39, Germany starts the war. I took Ribbentrop-Molotov because allies are still democratic and won't form an anti-fascist front with me, so I need to look out for Russia.

As usual, they do a good job with the invasion, cutting off a large pocket.

 

[Charles Louis]

I swallow the Baltic States. Take eastern Poland. And invade Finland. It collapses like a house of cards and I annex it.

I've re-taken Manchuria (and Port Arthur), Sakhalin Island, and now the Baltics and Finland. I'm re-constituting the Russian Empire.

After Jan 1st, I check the diplomatic screen and see that the Communist Party runs UK and Parti Communiste Français runs France.

US still has nearly 50% support for the Democrats, although our Communist party is now large enough that instructions to airbrush them off the table are no longer being issued. Venezuela has banned both the fascist and the communist parties but our communist party seems to be the biggest there, especially when we add the revolutionary socialists. I suspect they have ellections in '38 and '42.

I switch my spies to support ruling party in France and UK. As I posted on the main forum, this kind of think makes the Allies something of a faction irrelevancy. They don't represent an different ideological position. Since their communist leaders were funded, organized, and directed by Soviet spies, its not like they are some kinds of Trotskite anti-Stalinist communists. So on April 22, I edited the save game and put them into the Comintern. As you can see above, France already had 195 relations with Russia. Trade is a powerful maker of friends.

Certainly it should be possible for profound governmental change to alter your factional situation, but it has implications for relations. Republican Spain was on the verge of joining the allies, friendly with France, UK, and Soviets, dominated by social democrats and left wing radicals. Normally in the faction system, new allies don't effect recruitment all that much. In one sense, England has a new ally, Soviet Union. In another sense, England is now connected to a new set of ideological implications. Clearly this kind of thing would be an issue in countries moving faction. Relations, common enemies, and tolerance of the new ideological confederates would have to be considered for each country.

 

[Charles Louis]

We need to step back to Asia. After the fall of Poland and Finland, I renewed the land war in Asia, declaring war on nationalist China in the last week of December of '39.

I cut off the main Chinese army and forced the surrender of just under 80,000 men within a week. Then it was a question of dealing with the remaining divisions, many of which I cut off and driving south and west. Singkang attacked from the west and annexed Xibei San Ma. I sent Soviet infantry into Honan and then to Szechwan while motorized went to Shantung and then to Nanking and Shanghai. China collapsed in early February and Chi Com puppeted them. This isn't right. There is a one China ideology that should make it unlikely that Nat China and Chi Com puppet, but prefer to annex. So I reloaded for Feb 1 and this time, Chi Com annexed Nat China.

The Communist armies then had to march south to Guanxi. If they had any sense they would seek peace, but they just waited for the inevitable onslaught.

 

[Charles Louis]

So, as I mentioned, on April 22, 1940 I edited the save game and moved France, UK, Poland, and their new ally, Liberia to Comintern. France and UK are communist. I could have waited to liberate Poland myself and install a communist Poland, which I will do anyway. Liberia was recruited because their large neighbors, France and UK wanted to. I don't ideology matters in that calculation. Republican Spain was close to being recruited, but I will give them time to give it some thought since they appeal more to the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (National Confederation of Labor) than the Social Democrats, the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party).

By May 12, I decided to declare war on the fascists. Of course my intention is to organize a blitz, penetrate the German line, cut off units and annihilate the German Army. The Germans are currently fully mobilized and have been at war for 11 months.

Here we are at the moment the war starts, 1400 Grenwich, May 12, 1940. My approach is to take a stack like the one you see here, attack with the infantry and hold the mobile troops back. The 202. Motorized Rifle Division you see here will then exploit the breakthrough.

I attack at four places along the front, plus once Memel is cut off there too. You can see how I will be attempting to cut off two more provinces in addition to Memel.

At this point you can see the effect on the line of the units I have cut off. We are a mere 8 days into the campaign and the northern sector is devastated. I have cut off Memel and two other places, and am positioned to move forward and do it again. The Germans are trying to breakthrough and relieve their trapped unit. I will get to 99% complete victory before the Germans will break through, preventing surrender. Disappointing, but realistic, given the German proficiency. German stacks are big and hard, and require some attention to force their surrender.

 

[Charles Louis]

Here is the southern part of the front, same thing, make a hole, run through, cut off the enemy.

Twenty one days after the war started and I've cut of many provinces and many divisions. The Germans send more from the West, and presumably some may have come off the build cue, but it will be very soon that I'll just advance west pausing only occasionally, rather than I am now, where my rate of advance is determined by how long it takes to induce surrender of surrounded units.

30,000 German troops surrender at Braunsberg. The advance continues. I have noticed that there isn't much German air, I imagine its in the west, busy. Another air observation, normally I use my close air support and tac air in ground attacks until the first breakthroughs occur, then I switch to interdiction of the fleeing units, but the Germans haven't done much falling back. So I've kept the air on ground attack.

 

[Myth]

The war looks like it's going quite well so far. Don't stop the advance until you hit the Rhine!

 

[Charles Louis]

Its June 10, just under a month ago I attacked, and I'm about to take Warsaw from the Germans. They can't maintain a front that will stop me, and at some point the troops they keep pulling of the western front will mean the French will advance.

They key to executing a good blitz in HoI3 is to prepare the battlespace. Sometimes you enemies will help you out by deploying poorly. Earlier in China, the Nat Chinese thought that they could rush Shanxi, take Beijing and maybe knock Shanxi out of the war. Poor intelligence meant they did not know there was a large Russian army, the 17th sitting just beyond in Manchuria. Fast moving Russian armor and motorized cut off the large Chinese army and then following infantry helped force its surrender. 80,000 men. After that China was easy. Historically France mis-deployed, putting most of its army behind the Maginot Line and leaving a big gap in front of the Ardennes. The small number of reservists would have had a hard time as it was, putting them in to catch 22 of having to avoid air cover, and tanks at the same time, proved too much for them, and likewise, Germany was able to roll through them to cut off the Flanders Force.

Other times, like this time, Germany was reasonably well deployed. Putting people in Memel is not prudent until you are going to advancing out of it, because you risk being cut off. But in the main, the Germans had decent troops density, given they are already at war with France, and the deployments were even. Few weak spots to rush through and surround the strong places. But, with enough force, you can make your own weak spots, break through, and then surround what remains.

 

[Charles Louis]

What a difference nine days makes. I have drawn in the line from roughly the 10th because I hoped to emphasize how the center was entirely enveloped - the Vistula pocket. The anchor of the German forces there still holds out. Red arrows indicate the direction of intended thrusts. Berlin gets closer and closer.

Fifteen days ago the army was crossing the Vistula, now we're crossing the Oder. Fifteen days ago there were Germans in our way, however ineffective at preventing out advance. Now we just role through and introduce the locals to the new commissar. An unfortunate AI production problem is preventing the Germans from building infantry. I suspect that the AI is over-valuing practical bonuses. And sure enough, the Germans already have great aircraft practicals, and are building more and more tac air. The amount of time it takes to build, Stalin will be in Paris signing partition agreements with our allies.

Berlin is surrounded, Vienna captured. Prague will fall in hours.

 

[Charles Louis]

So here it is August 4, the war started on May 12, and I've reached the rear elements of the German Army on the Rhine. They abandon the Siegfried Line and attack the Red menace. France follows them just out of earshot leaving the Germans to suppose they are still in France. The German army here is large, and when it reaches the Russian lines, pushes us back a bit. Eventually our infantry catches up, and we seal the deal.

Here is Germany at the moment of surrender. Italy will fall in a month.

I can't reorganize Europe in a proper way without a lot of work. Ideally we want to break up Germany, starting with Austria and Czechoslovakia. But I can't release Austria until I annex it, and if I annex Germany, France has a part and to annex it I need to use cheat codes or edit the save game. Maybe its worth it for Austria, but what about Germany? If I liberate Poland as a lovely people's republic, I will have supply issues in Germany. Sure, who will bother me, and I can supply a handful of motorized and cavalry units for partisan duty. But I would like to be able to form a DDR. That requires puppeting all of the greater Reich. Plus with the AI as its working now the 1st thing my puppet will do is act like Hitler still runs the show.

So, I will declare victory. France and UK were made Communist by spies, Japan was defeated, though left intact with Taiwan and Korea, Russia got Port Arthur, Manchuria, and Sakhalin Island. Communist China is now master of the old nationalist territory, and has puppeted Gungxi and Shanxi. Germany and Italy totally conquered.

Getting UK and France by spies was too easy. Even after the war, when communism had more appeal, the Soviets never were successful in building up communist parties to the point where they could take over. France had three governments in which PCF participated between 1945 and 2009. That's once every 20 years for mere participation. Let alone getting to be majority parties who can establish totalitarian governments. It was fun once, I won't do it again because its too powerful.

It does seem to be the right way to go for putting your government into puppets. Getting a communist government in Shanxi in four years works reasonably well for a game.