Version: 1.06b
Mod: CORE 0.83
Country: Germany
Start Date: January 1st, 1938
Initial plans:
- Use the same strategy from 'How I beat the Russian bear' with a few more historical changes (no mass alliances for cannon fodder purposes, no US in the Axis, etc) and some refinements of my earlier strategy in the hopes of improving it.
My initial goals:
- Like with my earlier strategy, establish a powerful economy that is well into 900 ICs with enough steel, coal and oil resources to keep it functional throughout the war. This involves annexing basically every country I run into, and having only one ally for the most of the war, Italy.
- Have a ready date of September, 1941 (usually the earliest that the Soviets DoW Germany) and have both land forts and massive amounts of inf engineer units along my border with the Soviet Union.
Early strategy:
- To bleed off some of the ICs in '36 - '38 I decided to go back to building heavy AA defenses in Western Germany. I also intend to build my fighter squadrons much earlier and hopefully have 2 full groups in Western Germany ready to take down the incoming British bombers.
- Focus a bit more on involvement in the Spanish Civil War. I am keeping my intent with my earlier strategy by sending all my pre-war air units down to Nationalist Spain and in addition I sent 3 full infantry groups of 12 divisions each. The idea here is I will have a good year or two that I won't have to supply them and it will speed up my supply buildup.
- As usual my land unit strategy is to first develop 2 panzer groups (12 divisions per) of Basic Light Tank (MG) which doesn't require any initial research. My primary emphais will always be on motorized infantry, and I won't build any more tanks until I have Basic Light Tank (40mm).
- To make sure I have a transport fleet that can send my troops to Spain, I had to put a few transports in the build queue but this is my usual strategy anyways.
- I changed my air strategy a bit to focus on building basic interceptors and air superiority fighters earlier to see if having 2 full groups in Western Germany instead of my usual 1 at the breakout of the war with the Allies will make any difference.
Early results:
- Sending all those troops down to Nationalist Spain basically ended the Spanish Civil War in 6 months instead of the usual 2 years so I didn't gain alot of experience. Once the civil war was over, I moved 2 of my infantry groups back up to Germany and kept 1 sitting ready to take Gibraltor when the war breaks out.
- Poland was more benign in this game and didn't go after Liberia so my transport fleet was basically unused for a number of years.
- Anschuluss with Austria, Sudentenland and splitting Czechslovakia with Hungary all went without a problem providing me with much needed resources.
War with Poland:
- I started it at my usual time in December of 1938 and I had Poland annexed in 21 days which I think was a record for me. I didn't lose a single unit (usually I lose at least 1 division due to heavy fighting in Warsaw or Lublin) and I went with the Historical Pact with Soviet Union so they acquired their usual provinces which I intended to take back in a few more years.
War in France:
- Thanks to France's WE still being low (in the 60s) I acquired military access through Belgium and stationed my troops for a normal northern invasion. I kept up my research and production and make sure to have 2 more motorized infantry groups and my first Basic Light Tank (40mm) group ready for France.
- As usual I waited about 7 months before DoW'ing France and like my war with Poland, everything was at its record best. I swept through France in 2 1/2 - 3 months and had Vichy France without any problems, in keeping with my usual strategy I kept them independent for now.
- One unusual thing was that the British entirely ignored my war in France (usually they send bombers to Western Germany, maybe a landing attempt at Caen or Saint Malo) until well after I had re-stationed my troops for the next phase of the war.
War in the Balkans and Eastern Europe:
Once I had France secured in the summer of 1939, I moved back to Eastern Europe where I started with a quick successive series of annexations in Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania. Apparently Romania is no longer in the Soviet SoI (I always thought it was).
So in late 1939 I was poised to invade Greece so I gained my first ally, Italy. Like the rest of my conquests, Greece was beyond easy. Finally once I had invaded Greece, the British started sending bombers to Western Germany and France and I found the Canadians were much more aggressive in their invasion attempts in this game.
The Two Front War
After I had Greece in the last months of 1939, I send 3 groups up to Kiel which would handle my northern front while the rest would focused on my southern front. I also began to work on the inf engineer units and land forts for my eastern european border with the Soviet Union.
Moving into 1940, I launched a quick attack into Denmark with 2 panzer groups (my older Light Tank (MG)s) and 1 mot infantry group (each group with my usual 12 divisions per) and used my transport fleet to quickly move them up to Norway. For a change the Norweigan fleet was pretty aggressive and I had to use the Kriegsmarine (I only use 1 naval fleet the entire game as I don't focus on having a naval presence) to protect the transport fleet.
About the time I was finishing off Norway, I moved my other 7-8 groups down into Turkey. By April 1940 I had both Turkey and Sweden, at this point I began moving my northern forces to my buildup in Eastern Europe. My southern forces continued down through Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Adan and Egypt. Since Syria and Lebanon were both Vichy France puppets I merely left them alone.
The African Campaign
In this game, the British forces were very strong in Africa and the Italians were basically ignoring Africa. As a result I had to keep 4 groups in Africa to push the British and French out of North Africa and push their forces back down to Ethopia and the Sudan. This was largely successful and finally after 4 months of fighting in Africa the Italians took some interest and began to garrison North Africa properly.
This left me in August 1940, about a year to buildup for Barbarossa which is plenty of time. I kept 2 groups in North Africa and 1 group in Saudi Arabia to keep the Allies out of both, this put me in direct control of the Mediterrain which soldified my defensive plans for Europe.
Buildup to Barbarossa
I continued with my usual strategy of setting up land forts in Eastern Europe and Turkey, in addition I was making lots of garrisons of infantry engineer brigades which would act as my rear line. I wanted to avoid the problems that Soviet offensives were giving me so I planned to also have 2-3 mot infantry groups behind the lines to head off any failures in the frontline during the first two phases of Barbarossa where the front line is right next to the rear line.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK continued to be a constant thorn in my side as they literally made dozens of invasion attempts in France, more so then usual and I was surprised to see Canada send serious attempts in Caen and Lilie where normally only the French and British did. However this did not deter my continued buildup to Barbarossa and things were going prefectly. My economy was booming in the range of 900-1000 ICs with enough resources to keep it going strong.
As my year of buildup continued, I was potentially becoming far more powerful then I was in prior games. By September of 1941 I already had 377 divisions when normally I only had 270 or so at the most, about 300 of these were right on the Soviet border (with 108 of them as my front line and 80 more as the rear defensive line). In addition I also made sure to have plenty of air superiority fighters as my key air strategy requires me to maintain both a heavy air defense in Western Europe and a heavy air offensive against the Soviet air force.
I continued to wait for the Soviet DoW, which came in December 1941 last game, however by April 1942 they still hadn't DoW'ed me so I went on the offensive.
Phase One: The Baltic States (April 1942 - June 1942)
- Unlike last game, I was not on equal footing but <i>superior</i> footing against the Soviet Union when I started my invasion. They had roughly 230 land divisions and 35 air divisions while I had 377 land divisions and 70 air divisions. This made my initial defense must more easier and the Soviets didn't have a single successful battle during my first phase of invasion.
- I choose my usual path of breaking through from Suwaki to Grodno then through Wilco, Pskov and Novgorod. I moved up one of my air groups with the invading forces so it would deal with the incoming tactical bombers and dive bombers. Soon I had 40 more divisions in my frontline force this time, there wasn't a single serious problem in making my encirclement.
- I had my encirclement complete in May of 1942 and I invaded with 1 unit from both the north and south and as usual the severely weakened Soviet units were no match for me and I had the Baltic States liberated by June 1942.
- The Soviet army lost about 20 land divisions and 5 air divisions in the process, while I didn't lose a single land or air division.
- Unforunately for me, right after I finished this phase I got a nasty surprise where Persia joined the Allies AND gave military access to the Soviet Union so my Turkish and Iraqi borders were in danger. Luckily I could afford to send down 3 groups to deal with Persia.
<MORE TO COME>
Mod: CORE 0.83
Country: Germany
Start Date: January 1st, 1938
Initial plans:
- Use the same strategy from 'How I beat the Russian bear' with a few more historical changes (no mass alliances for cannon fodder purposes, no US in the Axis, etc) and some refinements of my earlier strategy in the hopes of improving it.
My initial goals:
- Like with my earlier strategy, establish a powerful economy that is well into 900 ICs with enough steel, coal and oil resources to keep it functional throughout the war. This involves annexing basically every country I run into, and having only one ally for the most of the war, Italy.
- Have a ready date of September, 1941 (usually the earliest that the Soviets DoW Germany) and have both land forts and massive amounts of inf engineer units along my border with the Soviet Union.
Early strategy:
- To bleed off some of the ICs in '36 - '38 I decided to go back to building heavy AA defenses in Western Germany. I also intend to build my fighter squadrons much earlier and hopefully have 2 full groups in Western Germany ready to take down the incoming British bombers.
- Focus a bit more on involvement in the Spanish Civil War. I am keeping my intent with my earlier strategy by sending all my pre-war air units down to Nationalist Spain and in addition I sent 3 full infantry groups of 12 divisions each. The idea here is I will have a good year or two that I won't have to supply them and it will speed up my supply buildup.
- As usual my land unit strategy is to first develop 2 panzer groups (12 divisions per) of Basic Light Tank (MG) which doesn't require any initial research. My primary emphais will always be on motorized infantry, and I won't build any more tanks until I have Basic Light Tank (40mm).
- To make sure I have a transport fleet that can send my troops to Spain, I had to put a few transports in the build queue but this is my usual strategy anyways.
- I changed my air strategy a bit to focus on building basic interceptors and air superiority fighters earlier to see if having 2 full groups in Western Germany instead of my usual 1 at the breakout of the war with the Allies will make any difference.
Early results:
- Sending all those troops down to Nationalist Spain basically ended the Spanish Civil War in 6 months instead of the usual 2 years so I didn't gain alot of experience. Once the civil war was over, I moved 2 of my infantry groups back up to Germany and kept 1 sitting ready to take Gibraltor when the war breaks out.
- Poland was more benign in this game and didn't go after Liberia so my transport fleet was basically unused for a number of years.
- Anschuluss with Austria, Sudentenland and splitting Czechslovakia with Hungary all went without a problem providing me with much needed resources.
War with Poland:
- I started it at my usual time in December of 1938 and I had Poland annexed in 21 days which I think was a record for me. I didn't lose a single unit (usually I lose at least 1 division due to heavy fighting in Warsaw or Lublin) and I went with the Historical Pact with Soviet Union so they acquired their usual provinces which I intended to take back in a few more years.
War in France:
- Thanks to France's WE still being low (in the 60s) I acquired military access through Belgium and stationed my troops for a normal northern invasion. I kept up my research and production and make sure to have 2 more motorized infantry groups and my first Basic Light Tank (40mm) group ready for France.
- As usual I waited about 7 months before DoW'ing France and like my war with Poland, everything was at its record best. I swept through France in 2 1/2 - 3 months and had Vichy France without any problems, in keeping with my usual strategy I kept them independent for now.
- One unusual thing was that the British entirely ignored my war in France (usually they send bombers to Western Germany, maybe a landing attempt at Caen or Saint Malo) until well after I had re-stationed my troops for the next phase of the war.
War in the Balkans and Eastern Europe:
Once I had France secured in the summer of 1939, I moved back to Eastern Europe where I started with a quick successive series of annexations in Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania. Apparently Romania is no longer in the Soviet SoI (I always thought it was).
So in late 1939 I was poised to invade Greece so I gained my first ally, Italy. Like the rest of my conquests, Greece was beyond easy. Finally once I had invaded Greece, the British started sending bombers to Western Germany and France and I found the Canadians were much more aggressive in their invasion attempts in this game.
The Two Front War
After I had Greece in the last months of 1939, I send 3 groups up to Kiel which would handle my northern front while the rest would focused on my southern front. I also began to work on the inf engineer units and land forts for my eastern european border with the Soviet Union.
Moving into 1940, I launched a quick attack into Denmark with 2 panzer groups (my older Light Tank (MG)s) and 1 mot infantry group (each group with my usual 12 divisions per) and used my transport fleet to quickly move them up to Norway. For a change the Norweigan fleet was pretty aggressive and I had to use the Kriegsmarine (I only use 1 naval fleet the entire game as I don't focus on having a naval presence) to protect the transport fleet.
About the time I was finishing off Norway, I moved my other 7-8 groups down into Turkey. By April 1940 I had both Turkey and Sweden, at this point I began moving my northern forces to my buildup in Eastern Europe. My southern forces continued down through Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen, Adan and Egypt. Since Syria and Lebanon were both Vichy France puppets I merely left them alone.
The African Campaign
In this game, the British forces were very strong in Africa and the Italians were basically ignoring Africa. As a result I had to keep 4 groups in Africa to push the British and French out of North Africa and push their forces back down to Ethopia and the Sudan. This was largely successful and finally after 4 months of fighting in Africa the Italians took some interest and began to garrison North Africa properly.
This left me in August 1940, about a year to buildup for Barbarossa which is plenty of time. I kept 2 groups in North Africa and 1 group in Saudi Arabia to keep the Allies out of both, this put me in direct control of the Mediterrain which soldified my defensive plans for Europe.
Buildup to Barbarossa
I continued with my usual strategy of setting up land forts in Eastern Europe and Turkey, in addition I was making lots of garrisons of infantry engineer brigades which would act as my rear line. I wanted to avoid the problems that Soviet offensives were giving me so I planned to also have 2-3 mot infantry groups behind the lines to head off any failures in the frontline during the first two phases of Barbarossa where the front line is right next to the rear line.
Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK continued to be a constant thorn in my side as they literally made dozens of invasion attempts in France, more so then usual and I was surprised to see Canada send serious attempts in Caen and Lilie where normally only the French and British did. However this did not deter my continued buildup to Barbarossa and things were going prefectly. My economy was booming in the range of 900-1000 ICs with enough resources to keep it going strong.
As my year of buildup continued, I was potentially becoming far more powerful then I was in prior games. By September of 1941 I already had 377 divisions when normally I only had 270 or so at the most, about 300 of these were right on the Soviet border (with 108 of them as my front line and 80 more as the rear defensive line). In addition I also made sure to have plenty of air superiority fighters as my key air strategy requires me to maintain both a heavy air defense in Western Europe and a heavy air offensive against the Soviet air force.
I continued to wait for the Soviet DoW, which came in December 1941 last game, however by April 1942 they still hadn't DoW'ed me so I went on the offensive.
Phase One: The Baltic States (April 1942 - June 1942)
- Unlike last game, I was not on equal footing but <i>superior</i> footing against the Soviet Union when I started my invasion. They had roughly 230 land divisions and 35 air divisions while I had 377 land divisions and 70 air divisions. This made my initial defense must more easier and the Soviets didn't have a single successful battle during my first phase of invasion.
- I choose my usual path of breaking through from Suwaki to Grodno then through Wilco, Pskov and Novgorod. I moved up one of my air groups with the invading forces so it would deal with the incoming tactical bombers and dive bombers. Soon I had 40 more divisions in my frontline force this time, there wasn't a single serious problem in making my encirclement.
- I had my encirclement complete in May of 1942 and I invaded with 1 unit from both the north and south and as usual the severely weakened Soviet units were no match for me and I had the Baltic States liberated by June 1942.
- The Soviet army lost about 20 land divisions and 5 air divisions in the process, while I didn't lose a single land or air division.
- Unforunately for me, right after I finished this phase I got a nasty surprise where Persia joined the Allies AND gave military access to the Soviet Union so my Turkish and Iraqi borders were in danger. Luckily I could afford to send down 3 groups to deal with Persia.
<MORE TO COME>
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