Europe 1933 pre alpha

[ernieschwitz]

You might want to check the other bombur mods then, 82ndtrooper... Those are his work.

1936 december.
Building up the fleet requires alot of research, and hard work by the worfs in Danzig, Kiel and Hamburg. Right now Germany is producing 3 destroyer IIIs, and 1 Light Cruiser III. Light Cruiser IIIs and Heavy Cruiser II have just been researched. Germany can really muster alot of PPs if it wants to, but it comes at the price of having a small army/navy/air force. I doubt that this could be done in a game against a human opponent.

[ernieschwitz]

1937 January.
Italy is still frantically trying to bring its army in position so it can help Germany in the war that is being forseen between the west, and Germany. In essence what Italy wants is to have a Mare Nostro. But this can only happen by defeating the western powers in their colonies, while they fight the (hopefully) superior German Army.

While all this is going on, a few scouting flights where taken by the 4th Fighters, stationed in Tripoli. They flew near Malta and this is what they saw. (see picture). Most of those planes are old, obsolete even, but they will still take a toll on the delicate supply lines to Libya from Rome. Something must be done about this when the war breaks out, and in the mean time, as many troops and equipment must be ferried to Libya, from Italy as possible.

[ernieschwitz]

1937 Early Feb.

Finally the forces for the War in Poland are ready and in position. The newly raised 4th Army has marched from Berlin to the Eastern most portion of what used to be Czechoslovakia, and are now ready for an assault on Lvov. The Third Army is positioned so it can cross the vistula (i believe) and attack Poznan. From the North, the Prussia Korps is ready to strike down southwards, to tie down units and maybe even take Warsaw, if they cause enough confusion. Here is an overview of the positions, before the War breaks out...

[ernieschwitz]

And here is a view of the southern/eastern part of Poland.

[ernieschwitz]

1937, Early Feb.
Italy is still unprepared for war with the western powers. Things look good along the French border, and along the western Libyan/Tunesian border, but at the Eqyptian Border, the Italians are still not ready. Take a look for yourselves...

[ernieschwitz]

The situation on the Western border with Tunesia, frontline ready, french units few and far between.

[ernieschwitz]

Situation at the Eastern border of Libya.... Not quite what the Italians had hoped for...

[ernieschwitz]

1937 March
The WAR has begun. German troops pour over the polish borders, and attack. Here is the situation before the defenders of Poznan are assaulted. Notice the movements of the Prussia Korps too. It has almost reached Warsaw, without meeting any opposition...

[ernieschwitz]

1937 March.

Poznan is bombed by the Luftwaffe, and the covering fighters strafe alittle too close to the anti-aircraft guns stationed their. A full third of the fighters of 2nd Fighters (stationed in Berlin) don´t return home... Poznan is then shelled (should have shelled it first, i know)... and then stormed by Special Forces and Tank formations (still light tanks II). Losses are small and the city is quickly taken, and its airfield is repaired by engineers, so its immediately usable by fighters should it be needed.

Lvov is shelled by Artillery from the 4th Army, and a few casualties are taken. So far the war has gone well for Germany. Apart from the fighters that where shot down, that is.

In a second air raid, the 1st Polish Cavalry is nearly obliterated by the Luftwaffe bombers, dispite the fact that the Polish Air Force tried to intervene, only 1 bomber is damaged, but returns home without problems.

To simulate Britain and France declaring war on Germany, I declared war on France and Britain as the last thing i did that round. Should be interesting to see what dent the french army tries to make in the Gustav Line.

[ernieschwitz]

1937 March.

French Infantry and Armoured Cars Smash against the German troops holding the Gustav Line. Initial Attempts in the North are repulsed, with heavy losses to the french, but not to the Germans. In the mountains in the south however, close to the swiss border, the 8th Rifle Division is torn up, and in the fortifications in front of Stutgart, the German troops in the 7th Rifle Division is also badly mauled, and retreats, after dealing heavy casualties to the French forces...

[ernieschwitz]

In Poland the situation seems unchanged. The Polish Airforce did a bombing run against the Prussia Korps, costing a few casualties, but this was more annoying than actually harmful. Here is the deployment of troops at the beginning of the turn.

[ernieschwitz]

The breach in the Gustav Line was expected. German artillery and reserves where waiting in Stutgart, and after an initial shelling, and bombardment by the Luftwaffe (the French Airforce was nowhere to be seen), troops from the 1st Army retake and destroy the fortifications that where once the Gustav Line.

[ernieschwitz]

1937, Late March
German forces roll across Poland. Units from the 3rd Army smash their way towards Warsaw, removing all opposition in its way. Lvov is taken by units from the 4th Army without casualties, dispite being defended. The Polish forces simply did not have it in them to dent the German warmachine. Near Warsaw, the 2nd Polish Cavalry Division is forced to retreat to the capitol by units from the Prussia Korps. Following up this breakthrough, the Prussia Korps storms Warsaw, with moderate casualties, as it is defended fiercely by its garrison. Warsaw falls, and all the major Polish cities are now under German control. The Polish Airforce is captured intact, on the ground.

[ernieschwitz]

The end results after the action in Poland late march 1937...
Also, and not in the news, the 2nd Army which has been lying in waiting in case the French counterattack was too much for the 1st Army to handle, has moved to the Danish Border...

[Bombur]

A very promising scenario, althought I still think the unit spreadsheets and the tech tree need some adjustements....
the Bombur mod, unfortunately, wasn´t enough playested and
it´s possible ernie will find some annoying features. I can
try to correct them. Currently, I´m preparing an improved
Bombur mod (80% ready) but it won´t work with this particular
scenario, so eventual corrections could be done manually.
ernie, do you pretend to model some kind of USA intervention
in the game? And how will you upgrade the techs for AI players?

[ernieschwitz]

Thank you for those words Bombur.

I don´t plan to model a US intervention. At least not yet. I think it could be done tho.

You hit another soft spot with the comments about AI regimes technology. Since the minor AIs (Belgium, Holland etc etc) are sleeping, they are not upgrading their technology as the war progresses, and they will thus be easier and easier to beat. This is somewhat worrying. However, when taking over them diplomatically the problem is somewhat solved, in a somewhat round about way... the HQs of the countries have a very large nr. of supplies. Making it possible to upgrade their equipment somewhat.

[ernieschwitz]

1937 April.

In Poland there is still some heavy fighting, around and near the former Polish Capitol. Units from the Prussia Korps engage the main battle force of the Polish Army, only to be repulsed. The Luftwaffe had bombed this force before the attack, but to no avail. Units from the 3rd Army later engage these forces and beat them soundly. The Polish Army HQ is also assaulted, and reduced to 1 staff member, but retreats to safety, at least for another round. In eastern Poland, the 4th German Army has no trouble fighting against the remnants of the defenders of Lvov.

Also in the news, Denmark is declared war apon attacked. The Danish forces located on Fyn (The Danish Straits hex), is bombarded from the warships of the High Seas fleet, as well as artillery from 2nd Army. The Baltic fleet attacks the Danish Navy, anchored at Copenhagen. The resulting battle sees 4 German Destroyer IIs and 1 German Light Cruiser on the bottom of the ocean, as well as the entire Danish Navy (3 DDs). The Danish Submarines, 2 submarine IVs however, escape damage. The Danish Airforce is shot down, by the 4th Fighters, based in Kiel, there are losses however, 1 fighter does not return home.

Here is a picture of how the Danish "war" looks before and after the attack.

[ernieschwitz]

1937, early May
France seems determined to be on the offensive. Yet another attack has been made, with horrendous losses to the french, over 40 infantry, but with some scary results. The Northern most part of the frontline, has been breached by a fast moving force of armoured cars (III) and infantry loaded onto light trucks. They are moving towards Bonn, and the cities garrison is preparing to hold the city at all costs, if neccesary.

Of minor news, the Danish Bombers, that still exist (1 bomber I), has bombed the formations of the 2nd Army. Losses where very light. The bridge to Fyn (the Danish straights) has been blown, but that should be a minor problem, as the German High Command has brought along engineers to solve exactly that kind of problem.

Here is the critical situation near the Maginot line.

[ernieschwitz]

1937 May.

The French Attack took priority for the Luftwaffe. They bombed the advancing units from France, and nearly half of them became casualties. Having a feeling that this might be a trend, that the french make some powerful counterattacks, two things are done by the German High Command. Firstly, the 3rd Army is ordered to move from Poland towards France. This is done by foot, so it will take some time for it to arrive. The German transcap (the Trains) are used for another purpose, the forming of 1st Panzer Army, in Cologne. At the present time it consists only of 1 Panzer Divison, and 1st Grenadier Division... two more Divisions are being produced for the next turn, soon the Panzers will be rolling through Belgium (i hope).

[ernieschwitz]

1937 May.

The war in Denmark continues. It was however a neccesary war, as the government of Denmark was Pro British (I know that this is somewhat unhistorical). So to prevent a take over (which is not programmed into the AI), it had to be taken. Troops storm over the narrow straights of Denmark, and onto Seeland, where they prepare to fight for Copenhagen. Also a few Divisions are sent northwards towards Aalborg, to secure the strategic city. Copenhagen is bombarded by The High Seas fleet, as well as the Baltic Fleet. This action is almost certainly going to provoke the British Home Fleet to come out of their quarters... should the Germans engage it when it does?