Hi there!
Modding/ pc/ coding/ programming skilzz = 0,
but I have just obtained my master’s in Military History,
and I love to play Minor nations
.
So, after having found out that a CORE-project for HoI2 is in the making, I thought I might ad some suggestions online (you said you wanted it, didn’t ya?). I hope it’s useful!
I’ll divide all the data over several smaller posts, to keep things organized.
Since I’m Dutch, let’s start with this country.
INTRODUCTION:
First, Holland tried to stay neutral, and was a pretty pacifist country. Economically it was extremely dependent on international trade, especially with Germany, and so Holland was not only hit very hard by the crisis of the 30’s, it had more problems than other countries trying to recuperate.
Only in 1939 (after economic recovery and elections resulting in the socialists joining the government for the first time in Dutch political history) did a policy for rearmament really kick off. Of course, this was too little, too late.
When the German attack began, all was over within 5 days. But the small Dutch airforce did manage to score the biggest aerial victory ever in such a short time: a mere 100+ aircraft (of which only half could be considered modern, and most of those were destroyed in the first day of fighting) managed to bring down 352 aircraft
, of which over 224 were destroyed, and over 250 involved Ju-52 transport aircraft, meant to be used in the upcoming British invasion.
(Note: in the invasion of Holland, the German planned to surprise the Dutch by massive use of Fallschirmjäger-divisions, who were to land in the heart of The Hague and capture the royal family, thus crippling Dutch resistance. This plan totally failed, especially because of the onslaught amongst German transport aircraft. When planning operation Seelöwe, the supposed use of paratroopers was heavily infuenced by the losses and events in may ’40 in Holland).
But on land the situation was hopeless. Nevertheless, the Dutch armed forces resisted longer and heavier than anticipated, so Hitler ordered the bombardment of Rotterdam, resulting in the capitulation af all Dutch armed forces, except those in the colonies. The Dutch East Indies capitulated early ’42, after a bitter fight against a much stronger and more modern Japanese opponent.
The Dutch armed forces-in-exile were small, but nevertheless there were some notable successes: the Dutch submarine fleet, operating in the Dutch East Indies, wreaked havoc among Japanese naval units; the Dutch merchant fleet was important; but most important for the Allied war effort were the refineries on the Dutch Antilles and the intelligence provided by the Dutch Resistance.
After the war, Indonesia declared itself independent on August 15 1945. After fighting an insurgency, the Dutch recognised Indonesia in 1947.
CHANGING TYPES/ UNITS/ NAMES:
First of all, I recommend to change the names of developed aircraft types in the tech tree.
This is my alternative suggestion:
Basic CAS: Douglas 8A/3n
Impr. CAS: Fokker T.8c
Adv. CAS:
Bas. TAC: Fokker T.V
Impr. TAC: Fokker T.IX
Adv. TAC: North American B-25 Mitchell
Bas. STR: Fokker Type 115
Impr. STR: Consolidated B-24 Liberator
Adv. STR: Avro Lincoln
Bas. TRA: Fokker F.XXXVI
Impr. TRA: Fokker F.24
Adv. TRA: Fokker Type 180
Bas. NAV: Dornier DO-24K
Impr. NAV: Fokker T.8W
Adv. NAV: Martin PBM Mariner
Bas. Esc.F: Fokker G.1A Maaier/ Faucheur/ Reaper
Impr. Esc.F: Fokker G.1B
Adv. Esc.F: Fokker G.2
Bas. Fgt: De Schelde S.21
Impr. Fgt: Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V
Adv. Fgt: North American P-51D Mustang
Bas. Int.F: Fokker D.XXI
Impr. Int.F: Fokker D.XXIII
Adv. Int.F:
MILITARY LEADERS:
Simply said, there should be more of them! And at least some of them should have a couple of skills. Unfortunately, at the moment I cannot check my sources to offer suggestions, but I do remember that CORE-HoI I was pretty satisfying.
MINISTERS/ EVENTS:
The above goes for ministers as well. Furthermore, I do have a suggestion to create an event that might lead to a facsist Dutch government (allied and/or puppeted by Germany??). Unlikely, but possible. It needs to integrated with other events, and basically should fire if Germany plays the pacifist card, France/ Allies act aggressive, and focuses around two historical(!) events:
-in 1934 a diplomatic row between Holland and Belgium erupted over the so-called “Iron Rhine”-railway, which was supposed to connect the Ruhr-area and Antwerp, running across Dutch Limburg. At first the Dutch government agreed, but later withdrew its support, after Dr. Mussert (engineer and later the leader of the fascist and collaborating NSB-party) succesfully lead a movement that unfair competition for the port of Rotterdam. The change of stance of the Dutch government ruined Dutch-Belgian pre-war relations;
-in the 30’s the Dutch government ordered the creation of several strengthened positions, including bunkers, MG-positions, artillery batteries, etc. Most of these fixed defensive fortifications (and the supportive artillery) were directed against a hypothetic German invasion. When Germany found out these plans, they protested, claiming that if Holland wanted to uphold its neutral status neutral, these modernisations should be spread out evenly against all possible invaders. The Dutch government government buckled, and reorganized its defenses; now the coast was readied against a (very unlikely) invasion from Britain, actually wasting precious heavy artillery. This in turn lead to protests from the UK, but without too much effect.
IMHO, these events can and should be integrated into events I already found in CORE-HoI 1. For example, if Germany does not occupy the Rhineland, but France/Britain do gear up for war, the Dutch position might shift to a more pro-German stance. Historically, elections were held in ’36, ’37 and ’39, which might be used to create a change-in-gov- event (against a VERY heavy dissent hit, of course). Such a government would then be lead by Mussert.
Naturally, using the same mechanism, it should be possible to let the Dutch join the Alllies as well! The Dutch queen Wilhelmina personally was totally fed up with the pre-war Dutch political system, but was even more anti-nazi (Churchill once remarked she was the only real man in the Dutch gov-in-exile). Thus, the queen would lead such a gov.
EVENTS:
There should be many more events. All events from HoI 1 should be copied (especially the “buy anti-air”-event). But there should be more. A few suggestions:
- in ’34 the CL “De 7 Provinciën”, stationed in the East Indies, was captured by mutineers, because of poor working conditions. Dutch authorities, fearing anti-colonial motives, ordered the bombardment of the vessel, resulting in a direct hit that killed dozens of sailors, although the bomb itself was meant as a warning shot and was actually supposed to miss…
This event should at least result in a decent dissent hit. If there are to be several possible results, let it depend on the damage inflicted:
1) CL sunk (CL removed from game); very high dissent hit, weak state of military exposed-> gearing up for war event started, relations with USSR down, 2+ interventionism/ 1+ hawk lobby/ +1 to right/ +1 authoritarian,
2) CL damaged ( CL org level to 0); relations with USSR down, high dissent hit, gov changed to 1+ isolationism/ 1+ to right,
3) Missed! (CL removed from game or given to USSR); very high dissent hit, gov collapses, replaced by more authoritarian, conservative, pro-german gov, relations with USSR/ Allies down, gering up for war;
-much already has been said about the German warplans ending up in Belgian hands after a German recon plane crashed in Belgium in ’39. However, the date of fall gelb had leaked out as well: the Dutch military embassy envoy in Berlin, col. Sas van Gent, had a high-ranking contact in the Abwehr, informing him of the precise invasion-date. Unfortunately, circumstances led to the last-minute postponement of fall gelb more than 20 times(!), for reasons differing from bad weather to Hitler getting cold feet. Originally, the invasion was planned to start in november ’39. This meant that the poor colonel raised the alarm every time, only to lose more and more of his dwindling credibility. When his final warning arrived in the early hours of May 10 1940, the only reaction was irritation (wonder how his superiors felt at the end of that day…).
I suggest an event in which the Dutch can ignore the message or raise the alarm. If the alarm is raised, mobilisation should occur (extra manpower, blueprints, militia, garrisons?), the info passed on to the other involved countries (BEL, LUX, FRA, UK) (giving them an extra “gear up for war event”), maybe gaining an intel-blueprint?, relations with Germany way down (even DoW?), allow military access to allies/ belgium. If the warning is ignored, the only consequence should be +1 dove lobby and +1 isolationism,
-it was a Dutch naval officer who invented the “schnorkel”, allowing U-boats to remain underwater while recharging there batteries. The design was captured and later used by the Germans. So, I suggest an event in which the Dutch get blueprints for electric subs in 1941 at the latest. If Holland is occupied by that time, these blueprints should be made available to Germany,
-I’m still thinking of other events, and in the meantime try to come up with a decent plan for the events I have suggested here.
BENELUX:
I read in this forum that someone suggested a Benelux-event of some sort. I cannot emphasize enough that this should NOT be done. First, the Benelux was only created AFTER WW2, because the gov’s of these countries realised pre-war mistakes should not be repeated; all of them were neutral, isolated and did not cooperate. They realised they had much in common, and that economic cooperation was vital for survival. This resulted in the BeNeLux.
Before the war however, there was a deep lack of trust between these countries, and there were many (historical) reasons why they did not got along, but without the war, the benelux would never have been founded (it is just as likely as the DDR being founded in 1940, right after Hitler has taken Paris –indeed, JUST NOT POSSIBLE!!!). The only way the Benelux should come into play, is AFTER these countries have been liberated by the Allies (NOT the USSR!!!) and there gov’s restored.
