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I'll do my best - not sure yet if I'll be entirely happy with the new format, but I do need to get it moving along or it will take forever!
Haha, well thanks for all the support (natural and supernatural) on this one, but gotta win and finish this one first.
Japan is one idea and a good one ... but I already have at least one more definite HOI3 project lined up, plus a couple of others in mind. Not enough time for all of them. What shall I do!?
Japan is one idea and a good one ... but I already have at least one more definite HOI3 project lined up, plus a couple of others in mind. Not enough time for all of them. What shall I do!?
Kelebek is already in mine, in fact, he's going to be in all of the ones I write since he's a trans-dimensional being...so that's one parralell already.
I'm eventually going to restart that Italian introduction game which is my first game of HOI ever, trying to shift Italy into a secondry power. Bullfilter's already done a French run, ending with them and Britian ruling a colossal pro-democratic EU that covers most of the world. So there's still lots of countries out to grab.
I'd love to see if it's possible for someone to turn a south amercian country into a world power within the time it takes to get involved in ww2, and then win it for themsevles.
Or Japan or China of course, both lots of options there. South Africa might be interesting if they try to help the Axis whilst conquering all of Africa for themsevles?
I’ve mentioned the odd one in discussions or PMs, but one is already laid out: a sequel to the France quick and dirty AAR, (the one TBC mentions below) where I take the Soviets in 1944 (after eight years of being run by the AI, still with Japan occupying a large chunk of Siberia and having essentially been beaten by the Germans until the French took them down in the west) and then turning them around, in the face of an Allied 12-objective New Post-colonial World Order. Another is to do Germany with a 1939 start, but a largely AI run campaign on very hard, with periods of ‘insanity’ (Hitler actually running things unfiltered) done by random die roll, meaning no changes at all to any theatre objective or any other game decisions, by tagging and playing as a neutral Micro power for the duration of the random period of madness and letting the AI muck everything up till next time. I want to try Poland again with a 1936 start and see if I can survive taking the Allied path. And another is to try a multiplayer attempt to have a strong League of Nations alliance culminating in a mutual defence pact (a la NATO) for members in Europe by tinkering with the start game files and trying to resist the German takeover of the Czechs at Munich in the 1938 scenario. Maybe play as France mainly, plus a largely AI Britain but with macro human control, and then being able to pick one of the smaller League powers at any one time in detail. That one’s just an initial fuzzy concept.
Kelebek is already in mine, in fact, he's going to be in all of the ones I write since he's a trans-dimensional being...so that's one parralell already.
I'm eventually going to restart that Italian introduction game which is my first game of HOI ever, trying to shift Italy into a secondry power. Bullfilter's already done a French run, ending with them and Britian ruling a colossal pro-democratic EU that covers most of the world. So there's still lots of countries out to grab.
I'd love to see if it's possible for someone to turn a south amercian country into a world power within the time it takes to get involved in ww2, and then win it for themsevles.
Or Japan or China of course, both lots of options there. South Africa might be interesting if they try to help the Axis whilst conquering all of Africa for themsevles?
I did a Brazil game where I joined the Axis and took over most of South America for the Axis, but it triggered an early US entry to the war and they actually ‘did something’ for once. It ended up with Brazil the sole remaining Axis power by 1944 and about to get crushed by the Allies. The only mod I did for that one was boost their ridiculously low leadership scores in the start major cities. If done again, the US guarantee for most South American countries would have to be removed by editing, I think. I’d also like to do an AAR game as Britain. My one attempt to play it non-AAR was fun but ended in defeat as I didn’t know much about air or naval combat mechanics at the time. Then there’s Japan. Oh, and of course I played as Australia once and had a win as part of the Allies in HOI1 and would like to have another go in HOI3. Apart from those and the AAR ideas mention above to Professor Slorepee, nothing much in the HOI3 AAR catalogue ...
My next AAR (because I'm already plotting it out) is to do a HoI3 run as the US, but not really be presenting from the well worn high command or average soldier point of view, but more like The War Zone, War on the Rocks or War Is Boring. Basically, focus on research and development, talking from an outsiders perspective on why some choices might be made.
One of the problems I have encountered (aside from the numerous ones already presented) is that of the commerce raider threat that kept significant amounts of the Royal Navy deployed abroad to try and counter. Having just finished reading Robert Forczyk's "We March Against England" about Operation Seelowe and how it could have come dangerously close to succeeding in knocking Britain out of the war, one of the particulars is how much the RN was not actually a block to invasion like everyone believes. So perhaps a British AAR about that.
And another is to try a multiplayer attempt to have a strong League of Nations alliance culminating in a mutual defence pact (a la NATO) for members in Europe by tinkering with the start game files and trying to resist the German takeover of the Czechs at Munich in the 1938 scenario. Maybe play as France mainly, plus a largely AI Britain but with macro human control, and then being able to pick one of the smaller League powers at any one time in detail. That one’s just an initial fuzzy concept.
I think that could be good. Get a load of players with experience to form a micro power alliance in Europe (Belgium, Czech Slovakia, Poland etc) and a few roleplayers for big guys like Germany, France and UK, and maybe some noobs for Russia and the US to ensure they'll do something but nobodies sure what.
Another is to do Germany with a 1939 start, but a largely AI run campaign on very hard, with periods of ‘insanity’ (Hitler actually running things unfiltered) done by random die roll, meaning no changes at all to any theatre objective or any other game decisions, by tagging and playing as a neutral Micro power for the duration of the random period of madness and letting the AI muck everything up till next time.
This one sounds interesting. Maybe a bit metagamey but it would certainly be interesting watching the player try to fix Hitler's insanity!
On a related note, there really is a depressing lack of 1938-start AARs which is a start date I've always liked as a balance with less boring lead time into WWII, but not just starting right on 1 Sept 1939 and being locked in. Unfortunately for me, HPP doesn't support alternate start dates currently or for some time yet.
One of the problems I have encountered (aside from the numerous ones already presented) is that of the commerce raider threat that kept significant amounts of the Royal Navy deployed abroad to try and counter. Having just finished reading Robert Forczyk's "We March Against England" about Operation Seelowe and how it could have come dangerously close to succeeding in knocking Britain out of the war, one of the particulars is how much the RN was not actually a block to invasion like everyone believes. So perhaps a British AAR about that.
This is one of those areas where HoI3 doesn't really model well the historical reality. However, unlike most of those issues, it's hardly Paradox's fault. The issue is basically that Germany doesn't have enough IC to build the massive submarine fleet they had in OTL, but giving that much IC to a human player would allow them to just use that IC for non-naval builds i.e. invading Russia with an even more massive army than they already can. Of course the game could be balanced around this, but then AI Germany would never stand a chance (not that they do very well now, anyways...) since they would still waste their IC on subs...or not, in which case why even bother?
Trying to balance the Germany side of any WWII game around the facts that (1) Germany needs to have a shot at winning for the game to be worth playing, but (2) historical Germany made so many colossal mistakes and wastes of IC/materiel, is simply an impossible task without resorting to AI cheating and artificial modifers.
I think that could be good. Get a load of players with experience to form a micro power alliance in Europe (Belgium, Czech Slovakia, Poland etc) and a few roleplayers for big guys like Germany, France and UK, and maybe some noobs for Russia and the US to ensure they'll do something but nobodies sure what.
Probably wouldn't even need Russia/USA players, just because if the war starts over Czech instead of Poland there won't be much latitude for Germany to invade Russia anyways, and the US would probably see things as a purely internal affair. By 1941 the game is likely decided before Japan can blow everything up by attacking the USA.
Might be worth running some AI v. AI with the modified diplomacy, and seeing how the balance is. Depending which side has the stronger position it would be interesting to then add Hungary, Romania, etc. into the picture as well.
Trying to balance the Germany side of any WWII game around the facts that (1) Germany needs to have a shot at winning for the game to be worth playing, but (2) historical Germany made so many colossal mistakes and wastes of IC/materiel, is simply an impossible task without resorting to AI cheating and artificial modifers.
Oh it would be infuriating for most players if Germany was modelled historically. You have three years of oil and money left before the country collapses. You have 5 years (maybe) before russia invades and crushes you. You have no friends, loads of enemies, an increasingly deranged leadership, no hope of building your way through the inefficiency and luncacy of prewar german industry and agriculture, and to top it all off, you absolutely positively have to declare war by 1940.
On the whole of europe bear minimum.
You might have hungary and italy to 'help' you. Enjoy!!!
...
I mean, challange players will love it but everyone else?
Oh it would be infuriating for most players if Germany was modelled historically. You have three years of oil and money left before the country collapses. You have 5 years (maybe) before russia invades and crushes you. You have no friends, loads of enemies, an increasingly deranged leadership, no hope of building your way through the inefficiency and luncacy of prewar german industry and agriculture, and to top it all off, you absolutely positively have to declare war by 1940.
On the whole of europe bear minimum.
You might have hungary and italy to 'help' you. Enjoy!!!
...
I mean, challange players will love it but everyone else?
Just to clarify (because I was very vague when explaining it), that multiplayer European scenario I mentioned was to be of a @Wraith11B type, where you get 2-3 machines going and play the selected powers. Much use would be made of AI, with probably only one intensive country management at a time. But I've never tried a self-multiplayer, so that one is just pie in the sky at this point. And I would definitely playtest it on AI to see whether the edits worked and the broad effects (and variations in results, if any) when the AI was left to its own devices. My instinct would be for any country on intensive management to be set to very hard, the others to normal, but I'd see how it played out in test. That one is probably a long way off though, and may never happen!
Also, I was considering that if I do my USAAR, that some of the "side show" wars would be (given my computer arrangement) able to be run by me but leaving the rest of the nation to the AI. This would be in order to more historically represent the fights, and drag some of those wars that are inevitably notoriously short in HoI3 games (SCW and China, anyone?) out.
Also, I was considering that if I do my USAAR, that some of the "side show" wars would be (given my computer arrangement) able to be run by me but leaving the rest of the nation to the AI. This would be in order to more historically represent the fights, and drag some of those wars that are inevitably notoriously short in HoI3 games (SCW and China, anyone?) out.
The SCW would actually be fairly easy to draw out - the main problem is that there's not enough troops on the ground to hold a proper front, so one one side gets advantage the war progresses very quickly. A mixture of events and AI scripting to cause massive amounts of MIL spamming would probably take care of that.
China is a harder problem...actually, the war in China by itself is not hard to balance (HPP for example has this down pretty well). The problem is balancing Japan as a whole country, because if Japan is bogged down in China the AI cannot handle the multi-front war in SEA and the Pacific without a lot of human direction. The Paradox solution as of TFH has basically been to give Japan its historically-controlled piece of China in around 1938-39 and just kind of leave it at that, which helps Japan give a good fight in the other theaters but leaves China very boring. Not really any good solution as long as the (hardcoded) military AI can't handle multiple non-contiguous fronts. If I had to propose a "best" solution, it would be to have Japan and China decide on a short-term "cease fire", where in-game the idea is that Japan ceases offensives to prepare for Pearl Harbor and the Burma campaign, while China takes the time to regroup and reinforce. After Japan DOWs the Allies, China can restart the war by joining the Allies via decision or timed event.
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Chapter 172: The Battle of the Bulge - Part One (1 to 9 August 1942)
Chapter 172: The Battle of the Bulge - Part One (1 to 9 August 1942)
AuthAAR’s Note:As mentioned before, I will use a varied approach to describe events during this very busy and involved period of warfare on the ground, in the air and at sea. I hope to get a bit of flow going, while still adhering to the general approach of this AAR. Seasoned readers may see some similarities with how reporting on the original campaign to conquer Yugoslavia (Operations Hammer and Anvil) was done.
For @El Pip : the tag for you in this post is because General Turanec, in charge of the Slovakian 2nd Pesi Div, becomes heavily involved in the fighting! Thought you might be faintly interested.
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Midnight 1 Aug 42 – "Commander’s Intent Conference", Sofiya
After four weeks of the Summer Offensive, early on 1 August Inönü met with the key planners at his HQ 1st Army in Sofiya to review progress and give guidance for the next phase of the campaign.
“This offensive is becoming ever more complex and fast-moving as we try to extend our breakthroughs and encircle enemy formations,” the President began. “I intend to give my broad intent here, for you to turn into detailed orders and the commanders on the ground to enact. Rather than daily updates, I will review progress periodically. Of course, any truly strategic events or matters requiring decision between our two main areas of operation will be referred to me.”
After looking around the briefing room to nods and affirmations of understanding, the President and Army Commander continued.
“My intent is to keep the advance going in a broadly north-westerly direction. The immediate objectives are to encircle as many enemy formations as possible along the Adriatic coast south of Zara and to secure the right flank of the advance along the Sava River as far north as Novi Grad. Commander 2nd Corps, LTGEN Artunkal, will have overall command of all forces in the Adriatic Sector. General Yamut will exercise command of all operations in the Northern Sector, based from his HQ 3rd Corps on the Danube Line.”
Yamut also doubles as the Army Chief, so he has been given the role despite the fact his in-game HQ is not located within the sector. As an aside, a review of the corps command arrangements conducted at the end of the session (midnight 16 August) showed the lines of command have become scrambled, elongated and unbalanced, with four of the five corps HQs located east of Beograd, with only HQ 2nd Corps in the vicinity of the major combat operations. There will be a reorganisation of these arrangements at the start of the next session, when an attempt will be made to move a few of those HQs across to try to get them in range of the units at the front, so they can regain the command benefits that should be accruing. I confess to having temporarily forgotten about this aspect.
The jumping off point for the Summer Offensive is in green; progress to 1 August 1942 is in blue; broad lines of advance for the next phase in yellow; and intermediate objectives for the phase in orange. For reporting purposes, the offensive has been divided into two sectors: the Adriatic Sector is to perform the proposed encirclement operation; the Northern Sector to clear and secure the southern bank of the Sava River on the flank of the advance.
“Intermediate objectives are broadly to exploit in a corridor with the Sava River on the right and the Adriatic on the left as far as Zagreb and Trieste. Longer term, a thrust into northern Italy may be attempted. But these are all down the track, relying on continued momentum and also events from Beograd to the east and in Romania and Russia. A switch at some point to a right hook towards Hungary is another possibility. So a bridgehead over the Sava may be useful if we can secure one, further to the north-west. But we will see how things transpire: our enemies may, as before, respond in force and shut us down, especially as the line becomes extended and we start running out of troops to cover it all.”
“I will ask for comprehensive reports every four days or so, by area of operations and theme. Otherwise, I will follow events in the Command Post and issue supplementary instructions as necessary. Let me see the final orders to all corps commanders by early tomorrow morning and I will sign off on them, amending as necessary. You may take over, Chief of Operations!”
“Yes sir!" replied the Brigadier. "Men – to your tasks: dismissed!”
The key department and section heads, thus galvanised, soon scurried away to get their work done with commendable urgency and energy.
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Section One: 1-4 Aug 42
1A. Naval Operations 1-4 Aug 42: Report by Admiral Üngen
The first report was provided by Navy Chief and Commander 1st Navy Admiral Üngen, covering the recon sortie to the Adriatic to scout out enemy dispositions and air resources in case an amphibious landing might be required for Split or Zara to assist with the encirclement operation.
1st Navy left its base in Izmir at midnight on 1 August, with its first way point being the Southern Adriatic Sea. On the way they would pass a partisan uprising that had just broken out in Chalkida (see subsequent general reporting) and were also advised that a US carrier task force was operating off southern Italy.
They arrived in the Southern Adriatic by 10pm that night and continued north-west to their primary destination, the Southern Coast of Dalmatia (SCD). For this phase, 1 AG (I-16s and LaGG-3s) would provide air intercept cover from Beograd. They arrived in the SCD early the next morning and confirmed a division sized unit of unknown makeup was in Split and three wings (again of unknown configuration) were in the air base there. They proceeded on to the Northern Coast of Dalmatia (NCD). While transiting, they confirmed a division of Garrison troops was holding Split.
By 8am on 2 August they were in the NCD. After loitering there for over a day and seeing nothing more of interest, nor being challenged by air or sea, they were ordered back to Izmir on 3 August. Simultaneously, the 2nd Navy, with the three divisions of the US Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) on board, were also ordered from Istanbul to Izmir so they would be ready for any future tasking.
But the peace of their return voyage was shattered at 2am on 4 August as they passed back through the Southern Adriatic: two Italian naval bomber wings, escorted by a wing of multi-role fighters, began a night-time naval strike. 1 AG had only been given orders to intercept in the SCD. These were quickly changed to cover the region (SCDand the Southern Adriatic). They quickly engaged the Italians, the air battle going from 3 to 5am. Under the conditions, very little damage was done to aircraft on either side.
Meanwhile, the transports and landing craft with their US Marines arrived in Izmir at 5am that morning, waiting for further orders. The 1st Navy had escaped to the Eastern Ionian Sea virtually unscathed at 5am, just as the air raid was finishing. They then continued on to Izmir, where they had safely arrived by 10pm, ending their recon run.
There would be a post-script to the air action over the Adriatic. It seemed the the pilots of 1 AG had liberally interpreted their intercept mission to cover enemy aircraft flying out of Taranto. It may have been another strike - this time in daylight - aiming for the departing 1st Navy. In any case, they struck the enemy over Taranto - which also had fixed ground Heavy AA batteries. And found themselves in a hornets' nest, with an additional three interceptor wings joining the multi-role fighter escorts of the naval bombers.
By the time aerial combat finished at 10am [the 'live' battle screen captures never show the casualties for the last hour of dog-fighting] 2 AF lost 19% of its I-16s, while 3 AF suffered 30% casualties and became thoroughly disorganised. 1 AG was taken off line for rest and repair after it limped back into Beograd at 11am. The air battle may have been something of a debacle, but the transit was a success in that it had made the Italians show their hand. And it was definitely too much to safely sustain a naval landing operation in the Adriatic without a lot more air cover. Any plans for a landing in Zara or Split were shelved. And the Supreme HQ joint planners concluded a subsequent amphibious landing in either Sicily or elsewhere on the Italian peninsula would require more and better situated air cover to have much chance of success without great risk.
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1B. Northern Sector 1-4 Aug 42: Report by GEN Yamut
1 August was characterised by a series of smaller battle events and positioning for subsequent operations. 1 Inf Div in Vlasenica began an assault on Zenica at 2am against the weakened German 24th Division, whose resistance was not expected to last long. This province was key to progressing the central axis of the advance, whether for striking north to the Sava River or south towards Split.
The existing attack by 3 Mtn (in Foca) and 1 Armd (Rudo) Divs on Sarajevo was given a boost by the arrival of 2 Mtn Div in reserve at 3am, with an outflanking advance from Nevesinje[odds to 82%]. This swung the battle decisively against the enemy, who began falling back at 6am, losing 157 killed to 35 Turkish casualties. 3 Mtn Div marched in to secure Sarajevo by 8am: it would take another three days before they would be ready to attack again.
Further east on the Sava River, the German attack on Sabac dragged on, but by 7am looked to be failing, the cross-river assault of the now solitary German 46th Division flagging against 97 SD ‘Shar’. With Sabac deemed safe, the ongoing spoiling attack on Ruma by 2 Inf Div in Beograd, having served its purpose, was called off. Turkish losses had been 123 to 58 Germans killed. The last Turkish air raid on Ruma finished at 8am, killing 81 enemy soldiers, after which 1 TAK Wing and their escorts from 2 AG (F4Fs Wildcats) were stood down.
In the centre, 11 Inf Div made it to the mountains of Foca at 1pm and kept marching north-west to the recently secured Sarajevo. At 4pm, 222 SD pulled into Vlasenica and were directed west to Zenica, where they would follow up 1 Inf Div, which had just defeated its German defenders and was advancing towards it. Orbay’s crack division had lost just 31 men while inflicting 225 casualties on the enemy.
Wehib Pasha's 1 Armd Div joined 3 Mtn Div in Sarajevo at 5pm on 1 August. While they also had orders to advance to Zenica next, they (like 3 Mtn Div) would have to reorganise for the best part of three days before they could attack again.
Air Report. The last air strike on Ruma on the morning of 1 August killed 81 Axis troops.
A day later, with the advance still held up in Sarajevo, 15 Inf Div (the other heavy assault division, with IS-2s) secured Zavidovici at 6pm on 2 August – but would not be ready to attack again until late on 5 August. 217 SD, which had made it to Vlasenica at 5pm, was pushed forward to join them.
1 Inf Div encountered more stragglers in Zenica early on the morning of 3 August and had brushed them off by 4am. But at 6am, the almost fully rested Hungarian 27th Division took up position. While having had no chance to entrench, they could take advantage of some favourable terrain to hold up the advance. 222 SD was in Vlasenica but could not advance to Zenica for another 39 hours, while 1 Armd Div in Sarajevo (also ordered into Zenica) still had another 33 hours left to complete their own post-attack reorganisation. Orbay’s men would have to carry the fight themselves for now.
The success of the Summer Offensive and the lead role Turkey's new mechanised formations had played in it were ripe for a propaganda campaign. Perse quickly modified a stock Soviet poster (the translation was pretty much verbatim from the Soviet original). The poster resonated with her: in some ways, she felt the same way about the various lecherous suitors who regularly tried to proposition her. To some, she had become known as the 'Steel Lady of Bakanlıklar' (the Turkish ministry precinct in Ankara).
To their south-west, just over the boundary line in the Adriatic Sector, 1 Mtn Div was in Konjic and heading straight to Prozor to begin the ‘left hook’ that would hopefully lead to the pocketing of Axis divisions from Split to its south. It was too early yet to see if there were any enemy units already in Prozor. They would have to fight for the province later that morning, but the details will be reported in the Adriatic Sector summary.
By that evening, 1 Inf Div had successfully driven off their latest opponents in Zenica and were keeping up the momentum of the advance.
217 SD (a three-brigade Soviet EF) arrived in Zavidovici at 4am on 4 August. Their immediate task was to secure the province while the more powerful assault units pushed on (2 Mot Div was also on the way from the east in Zvornik): they began digging in. 2 Mot Div duly arrived in Zavidovici that afternoon and they were unencumbered by reorganisation delays: they immediately struck north-west to attack Doboj. Toüdemür launched a savage blitz attack on the still-disorganised [around 40% org] but partially entrenched German 21st Division. Fighting continued throughout the night and continued as the report was submitted to Inönü at midnight.
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1C. Adriatic Sector 1-4 Aug 42: Report by LTGEN Artunkal
As 1 August began on the southern flank of the offensive, 1 Mtn Div was still in Nevesinje, fighting for Konjic against the German 10th Division. 2 Mtn Div arrived in Nevesinje at 1am and were ordered to assist with the developing attack on Sarajevo in the Northern Sector (reported on separately above). But 'Muzir’s Mountaineers' didn’t need their help, as 1 Mtn Div were victorious just two hours later: they had killed 110 of the defenders for the loss of 61 of their own men.
On the coast, 97 SD ‘Shev’ arrived in Metkovic at 4am and began advancing north-west to Korcula, where they followed up a victory won the day before.
With little to report on 2 August, 3 August found 1 Mtn Div in Konjic and pushing on to Prozor, where they encountered stragglers (three retreating Axis HQs) at 7am and soon brushed them aside. An hour after that, 176 SD were the latest to arrive in Metkovic – they were ordered to exploit all the way through to Makarska if they could (as they were currently uninhibited by post-attack reorganisation delays).
Then later that morning, 1 Mtn Div found some more serious opposition standing in their way in Prozor: the newly arrived (and under-strength) German 10th Division, who they had beaten a few days before in Konjic. The attack went in at 11 am and ended some time later in another victory for Muzir’s experienced troops, but there was no record of the timing or casualties.
The general situation in both the Adriatic and Northern Sectors at 7pm on 4 August showed 2 Mot Div heavily engaged in Doboj with advances in progress on Zenica, Prozor and Korcula.
That night, enemy stragglers from earlier fighting in Metkovic continued to be chased in Korcula. 12 SD, still suffering the effects of earlier fighting, was sent forward from Ljubinje to secure Nevesinje: they would continue their recovery while closing any enemy escape route form the prospective pocket.
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1D. Other Fronts 1-4 Aug 42: Report by Supreme (Theatre) Commander FM Calistar
Greek nationalist rebels rose in Chalkida – the favourite target for failed Italian naval landings – and moved to attack the small (one x GAR brigade) garrison in Athens at midnight on 1 August. Their ‘attack’ was a foolhardy non-starter: the rebels were completely disorganised and they fell back without firing a shot by 4am. The Athens Garrison (11 Gar Bde) made an immediate counter-attack, which hit home in Chalkida at 5am. It was all over three hours later, with no one on either side even injured during the whole process. The rebels dispersed, but 11 Gar Bde risked continuing on to re-secure Chalkida: the chance of the Italians being able to successfully attack Athens by sea while they were gone was considered minimal.
On the Romanian border, German air raids (two TAC wings) began on Chisinau (the northernmost point of the Turkish screen on the Romanian-Soviet border) at 4am. There were concerns this might be followed by a ground assault from German forces directly to its north. Two German raids that day killed 567 Comintern (Romanian and Turkish) troops there.
A desperate German attack across the Danube on Velico Gradiste had been sputtering on since the end of July. It ended in a bloody German defeat at 7am, with minimal Turkish losses.
By that evening, in northern Romania, news came that Iasi – two provinces west of Chisinau – had fallen to Italian armour. German units bordered Chisinau on two sides: but no attack emerged that day, nor the next.
Air Report. Two German raids on Chisinau killed 567 Comintern troops (split between Turkey and Romania).
News from the Soviets was grim for Kyiv: the single rifle division defending it was under attack from German mechanised infantry and medium panzers. By 5am on 2 August their defence of the key city was in trouble, with no reinforcements for it on the way. By just after midnight early on 3 August, they were retreating – Kyiv was doomed to Nazi occupation.
Near Leningrad, by that time the Germans had troops directly to its west and south. The city itself was still only held by a single (though strong) garrison division, while the line to its south was now receiving reinforcements in the shape of rifle and motor rifle divisions.
And in Central Asia, north-east of the Turkish screening positions, there was better news. Soviet divisions and a Romanian division were advancing against light Japanese forces (one Japanese infantry division and two Manchurian militia divisions) and had pushed the Japanese division out of Karatau.
Air Report. Two German raids on Chisinau on 2 August killed a further 654 Comintern troops. There were no raids on 3 August.
A day later, early on 4 August, confirmation came that Kyiv had fallen to the Germans. A black day for the Soviets, though one which was unlikely to be reported directly in its state press! The Turks still encourage their Soviet allies to retake the city if they could [ie objective left on it]. But Leningrad still held, was not under direct attack, and the Soviets were beginning to stiffen the defensive line to its south.
4am on 4 August saw another exercise in futility from the Germans: fresh units, including the despised SS-Verf Division, launched another attack on Velico Gradiste. This one was over by midday: but not before more than 400 German troops had been dispatched to the nether regions.
Air Report. German raids on Chisinau resumed on 4 August, killing 663 more Comintern troops. The air strikes on Chisinau then ceased, but not before a total of 1,884 Comintern heroes had been martyred between 1 and 4 August.
News Report – 4 Aug 42: India. Citing documents seized in a raid on Indian National Congress headquarters in Allahabad, the British government have accused Mahatma Gandhi and the majority of his party of working toward "appeasement" of Japan.
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1E. Industry, Supply, Technology, Espionage, Trade and Diplomacy 1-4 Aug 42: Departmental Reports
The new air base at Cuprija (the secondary base servicing the Danube Line) received an upgrade early on 1 August[to Level 2 facilities],though it was yet to receive any aircraft. At the same time, a major new delivery was taken: a second wing (3 TAK) of Yak-4 bombers in Beograd. They were paired with 2 TAK (recovering after taking damage in its earlier raids on Ruma) and taken off line. This left only 1 TAK (the old Blenheims) and the CAS group (1 TAG) available for ground attack tasking.
This freed up considerable industrial capacity: more multi-role aircraft able to undertake bomber escort and interception duties at longer ranges were sought. A comparison between the Soviet La-5 (already in service with 4 AG) and the American P-51D Mustang was made. The Mustang's advantages in organisation, morale, speed, air detection, surface defence and night attack edged out the La-5’s better soft and hard attack (their employment was less likely to be in that capacity and Turkey already owned two La-5 wings if that was needed) and longer range. Licences for two wings were purchased.
Also on 1 August, Foreign Minister Aras sent a team of his diplomats to request transit rights from Sinkiang, which were granted, despite some doubts that they would be. Perhaps they might come in handy later and may help to improve relations with their government over time.
Sheng Shicai - one of those many-hatted warlord-dictators. Reminds me of that old satirical song about Idi Amin. He runs an entirely National Party (paternal autocrat) administration of Sinkiang (Xinjiang) in what is politically a 'Left Wing Radical' state dominated by the centre-left Revolutionary Party. No room right now, but if Sinkiang figures significantly in events later, we may have an alt-historical profile on it. My brief reading of their history around this time looked interesting.
By the early morning of 2 August, it was becoming clear that the fast pace and large scale of the offensive were draining supplies at an unprecedented (for Turkey) rate. The stockpile, now down to 33,500 units of supply, was being run down in net terms by around 600 per day. More capacity was directed to supply production to see what effect it might have. The impact of these measures was assessed on 3 August. An increase [of around 12 from about 15.5 IC to 27.5 IC] had reduced the daily deficit to about 470, but more would be needed to arrest the decline to more sustainable levels for the longer term.
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Section Two: 5 – 9 August (midday) 1942
2A. Northern Sector 5-9 Aug 42: GEN Yamut
Zenica was finally secured by 1 Inf Div at 8am on 5 August. They were able to push on straight away to Travnik in the hope of achieving a breakthrough into the open country of Banja Luka, to in turn open the way for a swing left to cut to the Adriatic coast at Split and/or Zara. But a large amount of Axis units were retreating ahead of them and were likely to get in the way, while there was no visibility behind the enemy lines. [Comment: In retrospect, I need to conduct the occasional aerial recon to fly one-off interdiction missions in the enemy rear ahead of these advances to see what is happening.] To their south, in the Adriatic Sector, 1 Mtn Div was having to fight hard for progress in Prozor.
The fast and hard-hitting 2 Mot Div won a good victory in Doboj at 10am and occupied it an hour later. They secured the south bank of the Sava River there and waited for follow-up forces to arrive, as they would have to pause for well over four days before being ready to push on again [Comment: that attack reorg doctrine deficit is really slowing us down – can’t wait for the next advance to at least shorten the delay a bit].
At midday, an Axis column (including an SS division) was seen heading south towards Zvornik from Tuzla, set to hit the solitary 10 Inf Div soon after. At that time 4 SD, to the south-east in Visegrad, had been moving to reinforce the much-attacked Sabac, while 14 Inf Div was on trains in Valjevo heading west to supplement the liberation advance in the Croatian GNR. 4 SD was diverted to reinforce Zvornik instead, with 14 Inf Div having to de-train and take its place to reinforce Sabac. This meant a long administrative delay before 14 Inf Div would be ready to move by foot, but the risk would be worn in Sabac so a real threat could be addressed in Zvornik.
It emerged that the SS division was not part of the attack, but a German and an Italian division struck Noyan’s partly entrenched troops at 1pm in a strong assault. But the additional heft of the five-brigade division structure was a welcome advantage, while Noyan outfoxed his Italian counterpart with a well-timed counter-attack. Even so, the arrival of 4 SD (in almost exactly two days’ time) would be welcome.
In light of this, an air mission was ordered to strike the Axis attackers in Tuzla, with 1 TAK augmented (for what they were worth) with the IL-2s of 1 Tank Avci Grubu (1 TAG). 2 AG (F4Fs) would provide escort on an air superiority mission. It would not be a powerful ground attack, but was better than nothing.
With fighting and air raids continuing in Zvornik and Tuzla, the first interference appeared to 1 Inf Div’s advance on Travnik. Orbay assaulted the Italian 49th Division, which of course was not entrenched but did have favourable terrain. It promised to be quite a tough fight, though Orbay was confident of victory.
Air Report. Two Turkish raids on Tuzla starting on the afternoon and evening of 5 August killed 54 Axis troops.
On 6 August, the arrival of 1 Armd Div in Zenica saw them ready for an immediate advance, rushing to join 1 Inf Div’s attack on Travnik to improve the odds there. 11 Inf Div arrived in Zenica at midday and were also sent on to Travnik, where they could either reinforce the attack or be ready to hold ground or exploit once the battle was won.
With the enemy attack on Zvornik pressing on and 4 SD still a day away from arriving (let alone reinforcing from reserve), in the early afternoon 217 SD was called on to launch a spoiling attack on Tuzla from Zavidovici. They were immediately counter-attacked in Tuzla, but two of the Axis divisions already committed to the attack on Zvornik were struck in the flank. The uncommitted enemy division, the German 5th, was in a better defensive position, but was still badly weakened from earlier fighting. 15 Inf Div (with the heavy tank brigade) was currently out of fuel in Zavidovici and thus unable to participate.
The first battle in Travnik was won by 4pm that evening, with 267 enemy killed, while 47 Turkish soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice. Two hours later, more opposition was found there, but this time all three attacking Turkish divisions were able to hook in off the bat against the Hungarian 27th Division.
In Zvornik, the pressure of the spoiling and air attacks on Tuzla plus a stout defence was working: one of the attacking enemy divisions pulled out by 6pm. Confidence increased that the province would be held, but the fighting there continued into the next day.
Air Report. Four Turkish raids on Tuzla on 6 August killed a total of 265 Axis troops.
At 7am on 7 August, the command net crackled with reports of Hungarian troops coming over the Sava River from Ruma to Sabac once more. Even with the shock of this assault, Sharokhin’s 97 SD was holding, despite the fact that the reinforcing 14 Inf Div had not even started its approach march yet, such was its confusion after having to get off their trains at short notice [perhaps some of their equipment was already gone and they had to wait for it to return, then get resupplied before they could head off ]. By 3pm, the Soviet defenders had managed the job themselves, throwing the Hungarians back across the river after a relatively short fight.
In the hilly central axis of the advance, the three-division mixed armoured and infantry force had won again in Travnik by 1pm, inflicting heavy casualties on the defenders, who lost 645 men for only 74 Turkish soldiers killed. Two hours later, 4 SD arrived in Zvornik and, though they would have to reinforce from reserve to affect the combat, their presence swung the odds [to 7%] firmly in the defenders’ favour. They reinforced quickly, moving into front line positions beside their Turkish comrades by 8pm that night. The enemy were on their last legs and ceased their attack straight away.[But alas there was no report for this one; a pity, as I’m sure the casualties would have been considerable.]
Because 4 SD were fresh and the attack on Zvornik was over, they were free to advance, which they did at 9pm by launching a flank attack on Tuzla from the south, hoping to reinforce what had up to that point been a spoiling attack by their comrades of 217 SD in Zavidovici. It now turned into a full attack to remove the last Axis bridgehead over the Sava in the area. Their insertion proved decisive, with the former Axis attack being turned into a loss of Tuzla by midnight [eg early 8 August]. 217 SD had paid a fairly expensive price for the victory, but it had helped Zvornik hold and should now see the Sava River secured from Doboj all the way through to Beograd.
Air Report. The final four Turkish raids on Tuzla on 7 August killed another 174 Axis troops, making a total of 493 over two and a half days of ground attack missions.
Just to the west in Doboj, 2 Mot Div was still unable to advance again until late the next day. But 15 Inf Div had resolved its fuel problems and made it to Doboj at 1am on 8 August. They hit the hated LSAH SS Division in Prnjavor at 2am, finding them partially dug-in on favourable terrain, but fully recovered from previous fighting, while the IS-2 tank brigade at Gataly’s disposal gave them an edge. But the experienced Düvert conducted a skilful elastic defence and the fight could prove a tough one.
At this point, a misreading of the map by Turkish commanders [ie me ] led to a gap eventually being opened in the line at Zvornik, which so much trouble had just been taken to defend. 10 Inf Div pushed onward to Tuzla after 4 SD, believing the flank towards Semska Mitrovica was secure. A check would have revealed a narrow approach across the Sava from the north.
But this oversight was not discovered for some time, as attention was focused elsewhere. 15 Inf Div drove the LSAH Division out of Prnjavor at 3pm, after 13 hours of combat.
This was followed four hours later by 1 Armd Div being the first into Travnik: this opened the possibility of breaking into the plains along the southern bank of the Sava, from Banja Luca to the north-west all the way to Novi Grad. But they would have to wait until the following afternoon to resume offensive operations. The jumping off point for a possible left hook across to Split was now opening up.
4 SD arrived in Tuzla to secure it at 6am on 9 August and found themselves under attack from across the Sava an hour later. Kurasov reacted with great instincts, counter-attacking the German 5th Division as it attempted to reclaim the bridgehead. The enemy were not well organised and Turkish reinforcements were on the way. As midday approached, the Comintern forces were confident of holding on.
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2B. Adriatic Sector 5-9 Aug 42: LTGEN Artunkal
The southern part of the offensive continued to be conducted on a narrow front. It was characterised by an approach along the coast in open ground but against large concentrations of enemy formation which resisted strongly. In parallel, Turkey’s mountain divisions led the advance through the mountains and hills of the Croatian GNR: tough terrain, but with units well suited to it and against lighter and less organised resistance. Additionally, some Axis units, such as the Italian division in Mostar, were either left alone or attacked less vigorously in order to keep them in place while a pocket was closed off to their north. This sector was very much an infantryman’s fight.
Early on 5 August, as the armour-led formations advanced on Zenica and Doboj to their north, 1 Mtn Div, the tip of the spear in the mountain campaign so far, was in Konjic and pressing towards Prozor, where they once again ran into a just-arrived enemy division determined to delay their advance. Muzir had the advantage, but again the fight was unlikely to be a walkover.
In Korcula, at 1am on 6 August, the coastal advance ran into steady resistance from a fresh Slovakian division, the 2nd, commanded by MAJGEN Turanec. [This Slovakian cameo is dedicated to you, @El Pip]The experienced Slovakian general was fighting an effective delaying action against the two Soviet EFs trying to dislodge him. 6 Inf Div, which had been held back until that point but was now ready to attack again, was ordered in to support the Soviets’ struggle.
2 Mtn Div, still operating in the Northern Sector to that point, arrived in Zenica at 7am and were switched south-west to support Muzir’s attack on Prozor. They were in reserve there by 10am: and it was just as well, because 1 Mtn Div were finally beginning to lose organisation after steady fighting since the beginning of the Summer Offensive over a month before. In Korcula, the arrival of 6 Inf Div had also improved the odds of victory there against determined Slovakian resistance.
At 7pm, 3 Mtn Div arrived in Konjic and they too joined the attack on Prozor, with orders to exploit past there north-west to Jajce if possible. All three Turkish mountain divisions were acting in unison for the first time in the offensive. The additional support for 1 Mtn Div from their comrades resulted in a hard-fought victory being won by 9pm. Korcula continued to resist the Comintern attack on it.
A more general overview of fighting currently taking place across the front on the afternoon of 7 August showed that 1 Mtn Div had occupied Prozor at 1pm and would take another two days to reorganise after their attack – and longer to recover fully from their recent combat (if they were given that luxury). In the north, the latest battle for Travnik had been won. This was important for the southern flank, as this would be the source of the intended left hook to close off the pocket forming along the coast. Further east, fighting continued along the Sava River in Tuzla, Zvornik and Sabac. In Korcula 6 Inf Div had not yet managed to reinforce, with the Slovakians holding firm at 7pm that evening.
Resistance in Korcula remained strong throughout 8 August. With the situation in Tuzla secure by then, air support was redirected to support the Korcula attack. 2 AG (F4Fs) would provide escort, with the old planes of 1 TAK doing ground attack duty. But the shorter range of the IL-2s, even though they were based closer in Kursumlija, were just out of range. The strikes on Korcula would be by daylight only. 222 SD arrived in Zenica at 6pm and were also switched south to Prozor, which was quickly becoming a key pivot point between the two sectors.
The morning of 9 August brought the arrival of 12 SD in Nevesinje at 7am, securing part of the eastern edge of the forming pocket. 17 Inf Div was still marching across from Foca via Sarajevo to secure Konjic, which had now been emptied of the all the units there previously. The Italians then scrambled three fighter wings to intercept the first Turkish air raid on Korcula.
The Italian interception struck hard, savaging the Blenheims despite their escort. Their mission was cancelled. A damage assessment conducted that evening showed they had lost 21% of their aircraft and had lost almost all organisation. They would be out of operation for some time to come.
The reporting period for the Adriatic Sector finished with 2 Mtn Div arriving in Prozor at 9am, with over a three-day wait before they would be ready to attack again. 1 Mtn Div was also still stuck there, while the fighting in Korcula continued – with out air support after the air raid was aborted. All through the central line of advance, post-attack reorganisation was slowing momentum, but that could not be helped in the short term. When Turkish forces were ready again, their immediate target would be Sinj and from there Split – to try to close the pocket before too many Axis forces could escape it.
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2C. Other Fronts 5-9 Aug 42: FM Calistar
At 9pm on 6 August, some pleasing news came from out of the blue – literally – in the Pacific. No specific details were available, but the bare facts were that 82nd Airborne Division had landed on Midway Island at some point recently, retaking it for the US! Huzzah! Though it was hoped that the key base would be properly defended – otherwise the brave paratroopers may be attacked and wiped out by Japanese marines sometime in the future.
OTL Event – 7 Aug 42: Pacific Theatre. The Guadalcanal Campaign and the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo began. Allied forces consisting mostly of U.S. Marines made amphibious landings in the southern Solomon Islands in the first major offensive by the Allies against Japan.
In Greece, Chalkida was pacified by 5am on 8 August, with 11 Gar Bde turning back to Athens as soon as the job was done. And at 6pm the same day, the CAS wings of 1 TAG were switched (using the Reserve mission) over to the new air base at Cuprija, which serviced the Danube Line as a back-up for Beograd, as they were now out of range of most of the front line fighting in Croatia.
OTL Event – 8 Aug 42: Pacific. U.S. Marines captured the unfinished Japanese airbase on Guadalcanal. The base was named Henderson Field after the Battle of Midway hero Lofton R. Henderson. The Battle of Savo Island, the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal Campaign, began.
No reports of significance were received during this period from the Romanian, Russian or eastern fronts. The situation on the Patriotic Front at midnight on 9 August is shown below. In Russia and Romania, the exchanges of territory in the eight days since the beginning of the month were more even than they had been in July, when the Axis had made significant advances in Russia in particular. The latest advances of the Turkish Summer Offensive had created a definite ‘bulge’ in the line in just eight and a half days. It was at this point that Turkish planners began to refer to the campaign colloquially as the ‘Battle of the Bulge’.
In the first eight and a half days of August to midday on the 9th 4,101 land combat casualties and another 574 from air attacks had been inflicted on the Axis in the continued Summer Offensive. Turkish forces had lost 1,006 men in land combat (casualties from air raids in Chisinau are not included, as they are 'ex-theatre' and were shared with Romania). Since the beginning of the offensive in early July, total recorded Axis losses were 21,216 and 7,192 for Turkey (including all EFs under command). The totals from unreported battles would have pushed these figures higher.
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2D. Industry, Supply, Technology, Espionage, Trade and Diplomacy 5-9 Aug 42: Departments
By the morning of 5 August, the additional investment in supply production [now 28.9 IC vs a ‘need’ of 15.41] had reduced the daily deficit to just 78, against a stockpile of 32,360. One of the new P-51D wings had been reduced to 69% capacity, but the other was still running at 100%.
A new air base was available for deployment from midnight on 6 August, but was kept in reserve for possible use either in Europe or Central Asia, depending on later events.
A review of the supply distribution network at midnight on 7 August showed coverage was now quite good all across the front line, with supplies reaching all units – even if fuel supply could be a bit difficult at times. But the daily supply deficit had leapt again and was back up to 483 vs 31,308 stockpile [couldn't really pinpoint the reason for this wild fluctuation]. At this time, old trade agreements were surveyed to see what was possible to do to eliminate drains on the supply chain. An old deal with the US to provide 5 supplies for 0.83 in currency was discovered – and cancelled. It would help a little. New trades to obtain supplies would be explored a little while later.
Improved training for fighter ground crews was rolled out on 8 August – this would be a welcome boon to all the older (Turkish and licence-built Soviet) fighter wings currently in service. Given the large amount of Turkish-built mountain units (unlike the more recent licence-built marine and engineer brigades) and their importance to current and future operations, outdated (Great War One vintage) special forces training doctrine would be the next area of research focus. COL Diskoerekto would be asked to provide some 'lessons learned' observations from recent action in the Balkans.
The supply drain had led to even more capacity being spent to meet the deficit [now up to 42.22 IC vs 15.26 ‘need’]. This had the deficit reduced somewhat by 9 August to 306 per day, with the stockpile down to 30,627 (or almost exactly 100 days’ worth at the current rate of consumption). 22.34% of industrial capacity was now being invested in supply production and the second Mustang wing was now down to just 10% rate of effort. Improved technology to increase production and throughput would probably be the next area addressed by Turkish researchers.
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Coming Up:Can the Turks maintain momentum in their ‘Battle of the Bulge’? Will the Axis – Germany especially – divert forces there if it continues to make inroads? And have the Soviets now managed to substantially stabilise both their Eastern and Western (Patriotic) Fronts, or is this a false dawn? Can they retake Kyiv and hold Leningrad?
Elsewhere, how have the British fared in North Africa, Burma and Malaya? Will the US garrison Midway properly this time – and will they leave 82nd Airborne there or get them out, replacing them with infantry or garrison troops? And will this be an isolated strike, or can the US start to conduct more naval landings to harry the Japanese flank?
How are the GENCO preparations going in Sicily with Luca, Vito and Cennet? Will other areas of Italy need to be investigated if the focus of planning changes? And who would do such work if it is required? Is Fredo enjoying his quiet life, teaching Ambassador Mike Ceylan’s son to fish?
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AuthAAR’s Endnote: the session was played through to the end of 15 August: those events will be related in the next update. This format has been adopted for the current high operational tempo of the Summer Offensive, as my ‘standard’ approach to combat reporting from less frenetic times would probably double the content. As before, the presentation will vary with the circumstances and this is not intended as a permanent change. Please let me know what you think of it, whether it is clear enough to follow (some of these combat events and maps were quite complicated), advantages or disadvantages, things you like or miss, etc.
Impressive progress in the Turkish summer offensive. You'll definitely encircle several axis divisions if things keep going this way. Lengthening the front as Turkey is doing will also draw pressure away from other parts of the front. I really hope the Turkish army can keep up this momentum, and stabilise the line, before the Germans move too many troops to the area. Regardless, considering the distances involved, the drive to Split should succeed. The improvement of Operational Level Organisation is of course critical to rapid offensive, and I'm glad that the Turkish Army is finally giving this aspect the attention it so badly needs.
That's not much of a USN Carrier Task Force you spotted there. One light carrier and a couple of cruisers...
Fluctuations in supply needs are due to a series of factors: The amount of units in combat (units in combat will use more supplies), the amount of units moving into enemy territory (units which are moving use more supplies, especially when moving into enemy territory), air strikes are also quite expensive supply-wise. Then there is the regular fluctuation due to units stockpiling supplies, and then, once a significant stockpile is built up, they start sending back excess supplies, unless they get embroiled in combat.
The Turkish Air Force is getting quite a beating, getting a hold of Split would really help, as will the purchase of Mustang P-51D's. While I deplore the fact that the contract is going to the capitalist Americans, I have to admit that US Aeroplane designs are significantly ahead of Soviet ones at this time. Their engines are significantly better, as well as their radar equipment and their training procedures. The only real edge the Soviet designs have is their armament. The longer range of Soviet models is simply due to the lower fuel consumption of the less powerful engines fitted. I do hope that the Soviet Aeroplane designs will catch up at some point. We certainly don't want to give up the lucrative Turkish market to the Americans. With each license purchase, there are increased fears that Turkey may well diplomatically turn away from the Soviet Union and towards the USA. I believe Turkey will remain closer to the USSR than to the USA, and support the Turkish decision to buy whatever equipment will be best to help win the war.
The excellent job done by Soviet expeditionary forces under Turkish command will, of course, be exaggerated in Pravda, in the hope that the fall of Kyiv remains unknown to the general public. I can only encourage the re-purposing of Soviet propaganda iconography to support the Turkish cause, or even for Perse to chase away unwanted advances.
Interesting how the Americans are using paratroopers to take back Midway. As you said, I hope they can hold on to it this time.
The Soviet front seems to be stabilising, let's hope STAVKA can keep that up, and take back Kyiv.
SkitalecS3
This really is a different kind of battle of the bulge...
It's a pity the air wings took the liberty to fight over heavy AA batteries. Until that happened I was getting ready to insist on a Zara landing instead of Split, but it seems like a good idea to shelf the idea altogether. Still, would we have had a similar outcome if the intercept area was the one including North Dalmatian Coast instead of South? Maybe there's not a hornet's nest in that general idea. Of course I'm guessing as I read along I'll see we're already onto new stages of the war and new landings some other places would be planned.
Sarajevo is finally free, the rest of the world's cities and towns oppressed by the axis swine are next in line.
It's a sad state that we're still lacking generals even after the 5 bde divisons reorganization. Turkey is now an aspiring power and hopefully the academies will start graduating more. As a metagame comment, there probably should be a game mechanic that creates ahistorical leaders based on the leadership spent on officer training if the historical ones aren't enough for the amount of leadership spent.
Toüdemür is fighting with flair as Orbay's men say "düşmanı çelikten bir çığın altında ezeceğiz!"; all looks great
Except where we're doing the fighting (Balkans) or at least organizing the most of it (far but now nearer east) situation is grim. If the Germans manage to break around Chisinau it would be difficult to mitigate. I think we're doing the best by attacking as boldly as we can where we can instead of trying to defend as cautious we can where we cannot.
Great news about the Mustangs. Even though we lack the theoretical aerospace knowledge at least we're also building some practical industrial know how. Speed is the second most important thing after air attack if range isn't a limiting problem in my experience so here we made a great choice. Nice to have allies with huge industrial bases and R&D facilities They'd better also have some AI, but that's another thing
Sinkiang (I'm not sure where their ruling party's loyalties are, but they might want to call themselves East Turkestan (Doğu Türkistan). Of course if not (and probably this is the case since Shikai is still running the place and not Sabri or Alptekin), we'll inform our diplomatic corps to not to step on any toes and use Sinkiang (Sincan). Do we have a single cav brigade lying around somewhere? We can try peeking around the border to see what's around
Noyan is Noyaning and Orbay is Orbaying as usual, and if Semenyuk pulls his shit together his spoiling attack can turn out to be able to capture Tuzla after all
And it happened as I thought, Tuzla is also being liberated. Now to correct the map reading mistake we might have to take Semska Mitrovica as well
The pocket is forming and even though the Slovakians resist it's now a matter of when then if. IT seems unfortunately Blenheims are fastly becoming obsolete-r than obsolete that can only operate under total air superiority or against enemies without air support.
A lot of lessons were learnt in the past days, no training is as instructive as real fighting when lives are on the line. Especially the outdated great war rigid organizational thinking is a big hindrance in mountainous terrain where lines of sight and communication is difficult and smaller on-map distances take longer real time to take. So I observed it's best to train the NCOs and younger officers (lieutenants and new captains) where they can move and decide more independently but according to the general strategical and tactical situation. Also, brigade level and below supply organization should be more dispersed and less centralized. I believe a modernization of our special forces doctrines in these general lines would increase our organization by, let's say, 5% in 4-5 months
I like this new format which suits the multithreaded way things are going. I think it would've been difficult to comprehend if it was the other way around (battles starting and continuing and finishing around the front). Nicely written and packed full of excitement, I really loved this new episode. Thanks! Made my day better!
After the pocket and the 3 objectives of Split/Zara, Novi Grad and a Sava bridgehead are complete, maybe we'll even have a chance to make a run for Budapest; who knows? So, first the left hook, then maybe a right uppercut
Thanks for pointing out the Battleship, I hadn't noticed that. Well, considering the carrier, it should probably be qualified as a small surface action group, with an escorting light carrier providing air support. I feel like Carrier Task Force is too grand a description for that. Maybe I'm wrong, and any fleet with anything resembling a Carrier in it should be called a CTF?
If they had any amphibs, I would have called it an Enhanced Strike Group (much like the ESGs of the Gator Navy here in the states which basically surround a light carrier some amphibs and a destroyer or two). The term might still be worthwhile. CTF however, is certainly out of the realm of reasonable.
Not enough time for all of them.
