Nov-Dec 1940
November 2, 1940 : In West Africa, Mountaineers continue their advance, arriving in Erzurum.
November 6, 1940 : USA went with Franklin D. Roosevelt (Dem.) in US. Presidential Election of 1940 - Historical Outcome. His platform shows signs of growing interventionism in the USA. Hitler believes they will eventually try to "save the world from Fascism." He hopes to be ready for any such foolishness and be done with his own campaign to save the world from Bolshevism before Roosevelt can get enough votes to do anything untoward. In Africa, German troops arrive in Bouarfa and Port-Etienne.
November 11, 1940 : IX. Army Group HQ has arrived in Amman.
November 18, 1940 : IV. Mountain Corps has arrived in Dakar. Having achieved the initial objective of the West African thrust, Hitler meets with his staff to discuss the future of Africa. With the next objectives of note lying well beyond current positions, it is agreed that a naval hopping campaign would be needed to complete the conquest of Belguim and to sieze South Africa. With manpower levels at bare minimum, Hitler does not wish a large scale operation at this time. He therefore orders the mountaineers to continue their slow and steady march through West Africa. In East Africa, Hitler orders the troops to hold at Port Said, giving Germany control of all points around the Med. It is given to Il'Duce to push the british out of Egypt and further south. Hitler does, however, authorize the continuation of the thrust into Iraq and through the entire Arabian peninsula. This will remove Yemen and Oman from the war and give Germany bases on the Indian Ocean.
It is planned that once the Russians are removed from the Black Sea, that the Kriegsmarine will divide into two fleets. One for the Atlantic and all points West. The second for the Indian Ocean and all points East. Each will have one surface fleet, one U-boat fleet, two transport groups and one marine army group.
November 23, 1940 : In a secret facility outside Berlin, a controlled nuclear chain reaction is created for the first time. It isn't much, but it is a start. Hitler is delirious with joy at the thoughts of what ungodly power this technology may bring.
November 24, 1940 : Mountaineers arrive in Bathurst, Tambacounda and Nioro du Sahel.
November 27, 1940 : Battles are won in Kirkuk and Mosul.
November 30, 1940 : 1. Pz.Gr. SS-Leibst. Adolf Hitler is deployed. Guderian is pleased to see that at least some of the new Panzer Grenadier Divisions will be in service in time for the offensive against Russia. He has long been fretting about the Infantry being unable to keep up with the Panzers. He hopes these new units will allow the Panzers to keep rolling with fewer concerns about vulnerable flanks.
December 1, 1940 : IV. Mountain Corps has arrived in Nioro du Sahel. IX. Army Group HQ has arrived in Eilat.
December 4, 1940 : KMS Siegfried and KMS Parsifal are commissioned. The KM CV strength now stands at 10 active CVL groups. 2 more are needed to reach the carrier strength goal. Production will then be switched to larger, faster, longer ranged vessels.
December 6, 1940 : We won a battle against Iraq in Karbala.
December 8, 1940 : VI. Mountain Corps has arrived in Kayes. We won a battle against Iraq in Baghdad.
December 9, 1940 : We won a battle against Iraq in Hilla.
December 13, 1940 : I. Panzer Army HQ has arrived in Samarra. Mountaineers arrive in Segou and Bamako.
December 14, 1940 : XXVI. Armeekorps has arrived in el-Arish.
December 18, 1940 : We won a battle against Iraq in Nasiriyah.
December 22, 1940 : II. Mountain Army HQ has arrived in Conakry.
December 26, 1940 : VI. Mountain Corps has arrived in Sikasso.
December 27, 1940 : We won a battle against Iraq in Najaf. Mountaineers arrive in Timbuktu.
December 29, 1940 : V. Mountain Corps has arrived in Gao.
December 30, 1940 : II. Mountain Army HQ has arrived in Freetown.
Here is a shot of the Reich on 1 Jan 1941. Also I have included 4 shots of my research.
This first pic is of my Naval Doctrine Tree. Notice that it is completed. This is why the U-boats are doing so well. They probably have the best positioning modifiers in the world! (The last tech in this chain was completed in Dec.40)
The second pic is of my Air Tech progress. Notice that I am researching only those units I actually intend on building. The rest is a waste of time/money.
The third pic is of my Land Doctrine progress. This is normal for Germany at this stage and is where most German players should be by Barbarrosa.
The last pic is of my Infantry Tech progress. You'll note that here my progress is more widespread. I have all the 1941 units that I need for Barbarrosa. I'm putting infantry ahead of armor (gasp) because I think my tanks are up to the task. I am currently researching Improved Medium Tank, however, and hope to have at least a couple units upgraded to that level by the time the operation begins.
The current state of the Wehrmacht:
Heer - 300 total divisions. 60 Garrison, 150 Infantry(110 in mobile armies + 40 on coastal defense), 15 HQ, 75 assorted "assault" divisions. (Panzer, Pz.Gr., Mtn, Mar) I should be able to hit USSR with 144 divisions in 12 Army Group. [in comparison, USSR has about 200 divisions, including 30 tank]
Luftwaffe - 5200 total combat aircraft. 1600 Bf.109G, 2800 Ju-88, 800 Fw-200C. I should be able to assign about 3600 of these to Barbarossa. [the USSR fields 36 air units]
Kriegsmarine - 130 total units. 56 surface units, 36 U-boat units, 38 transports. Surface fleet range is currently 1500nm due to limits of DD range. [USA and Japan have larger fleets, but with fewer CVs]
With no reserve manpower, it is decided that in a pinch Garrison units may be cannibalized to provide manpower to the rest of the military. With 100 divisions + brigades on garrison/coastal defense duty, drawing with them 1200MP(1.2 million men!), this is a wealth of MP that we can draw on if things go sour in Russia. They would naturally be removed from the areas of lowest partisan activity first. The low MP reserves are Hitler's greatest fear going into 1941 and the war in Russia.
