Bob Flemin's MWIF AARse IV - Nice AArse

[warspite1]

Meanwhile, in Berlinsville, a malevolent moustachioed mischief maker sits in the Reichkanzlei and salivates over the draft of his first Fuhrer Directive.


The Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

MOST SECRET

Berlin,
31st August 1939.

Directive No. 1 for the Conduct of the War

1. Since the situation on Germany's Eastern frontier has become intolerable and all political possibilities of peaceful settlement have been exhausted, I have decided upon a solution by force.

2 The attack on Poland will be undertaken in accordance with the preparations made for 'Case White', with such variations as may be necessitated by the build-up of the Army which is now virtually complete.

The allocation of tanks and the purpose of the operation remain unchanged.

Date of attack 1st September 1939.

This time also applies to operations at Gdynia, in the Bay of Danzig, and at the Dirschau bridge.

3. In the West it is important to leave the responsibility for opening hostilities unmistakably to England and France. Minor violations of the frontier will be dealt with, for the time being, purely as local incidents.

The assurances of neutrality given by us to Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland are to be meticulously observed.

The Western frontier of Germany will not be crossed by land at any point without my explicit orders.

This applies also to all acts of warfare at sea or to acts which might be regarded, as such.

The defensive activity of the Air Force will be restricted for the time being to the firm repulse of enemy air attacks on the frontiers of the Reich. In taking action against individual aircraft or small formations, care will be taken to respect the frontiers of neutral countries as far as possible. Only if considerable forces of French or British bombers are employed against German territory across neutral areas will the Air Force be permitted to go into defensive action over neutral soil.

It is particularly important that any infringement of the neutrality of other states by our Western enemies be immediately reported to the High Command of the Armed Forces.

4. Should England and France open hostilities against Germany, it will be the duty of the Armed Forces operating in the West, while conserving their strength as much as possible, to maintain conditions for the successful conclusion of operations against Poland. Within these limits enemy forces and war potential will be damaged as much as possible. The right to order offensive operations is reserved absolutely to me.

The Army will occupy the West Wall and will take steps to secure it from being outflanked in the north, through the violation by the Western powers of Belgian or Dutch territory. Should French forces invade Luxembourg the bridges on the frontier may be blown up.

The Navy will operate against merchant shipping, with England as the focal point. In order to increase the effect, the declaration of danger zones may be expected. The Naval High Command will report on the areas which it is desirable to classify as danger zones and on their extent. The text of a public declaration in this matter is to be drawn up in collaboration with the Foreign Office and to be submitted to me for approval through the High Command of the Armed Forces.

The Baltic Sea is to be secured against enemy intrusion. Commander-in-Chief Navy1 will decide whether the entrances to the Baltic should be mined for this purpose.

The Air Force is, first of all, to prevent action by the French and English Air Forces against the German Army and German territory.

In operations against England the task of the Air Force is to take measures to dislocate English imports, the armaments industry, and the transport of troops to France. Any favourable opportunity of an effective attack on concentrated units of the English Navy, particularly on battleships or aircraft carriers, will be exploited. The decision regarding attacks on London is reserved to me.

Attacks on the English homeland are to be prepared, bearing in mind that inconclusive results with insufficient forces are to be avoided in all circumstances.

[warspite1]

GERMANY DECLARES WAR ON POLAND!!!!!

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

I scrap nothing with the Chinese.

The Communists hold the river line south of the Yellow River, while the Nationalists hold a line roughly Nanning-Changsha and west of the Yangstse.

As Japan I would consider a central manoeuvring and flanking attack with the Japanese. I would likely send one Japanese unit operating out of supply to threaten the two central factory cities. I would also send another OOS unit towards the Kweiyang-Chihkiang road.

This to force the Chinese Army to relocate and hopefully become disorganized. Or to force them to gather several units behind their lines to take care about my OOS units.

But I suspect that there are risks with this strategy as well. [:D]

[Orm]

When playing with the 2d10 table the following rule applies.

When using the Blitz table, no matter who chose it, the attacker’s first
loss must be MOT, MECH, ARM, or HQ-A if any of those attacked (even
before winterized unit loss, but after ENG loss).

This means that there is a huge need for motorized units. MOT divisions are the most needed unit with the 2d10 table. The perfect loss unit. But any motorized corps can do the job as a loss unit and they can become in short supply.

[warspite1]

Well that's a shocker! [X(]

The US reacts very angrily to the news.

Roosevelt: We are very angry at the news.

In a bid to show congress just how angry he is, he picks a 2 from the German/Italian Entry markers and announces to the American people:

Roosevelt: I've taken Ge/It Entry Level to 14 (and Japan to 5) so be very careful Mr Hitler.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: warspite1

I scrap nothing with the Chinese.

The Communists hold the river line south of the Yellow River, while the Nationalists hold a line roughly Nanning-Changsha and west of the Yangstse.

As Japan I would consider a central manoeuvring and flanking attack with the Japanese. I would likely send one Japanese unit operating out of supply to threaten the two central factory cities. I would also send another OOS unit towards the Kweiyang-Chihkiang road.

This to force the Chinese Army to relocate and hopefully become disorganized. Or to force them to gather several units behind their lines to take care about my OOS units.

But I suspect that there are risks with this strategy as well. [:D]

warspite1

Orm ol' buddy. There is one fatal flaw I can see with this plan. It assumes a level of competence of the attacker that, I can assure you, simply does not exist [:D]

However, Tojo will take your sage advice and give it earnest consideration.

[warspite1]

The Poles, fortified by President Roosevelt's strong response and, comforted by the pact they have with the French and British, are not too worried.

Marshal Edward Smigly-Rydz, Commander in Chief of the Polish Forces is confident that he can hold the Germans for sufficient time to allow the Anglo-French forces to charge across the Siegfried Line and crush the German invaders from the rear.....

I am not sure the poor Marshal has read the French plan of er...attack too closely.....

[warspite1]

The Poles set up with the Modlin and Tarnow Armies, in the west and south respectively, to delay the Germans. The bulk of their forces are placed around the key cities of Warsaw and Lodz (the cities the Germans will need to conquer Poland).

The Polish air force are sensibly placed in the far east of the country. If the German attack goes badly they can fly west to carry on the fight. If things go wrong, they can fly into Lithuania and be interned. They can then make their way to the UK and join the RAF.

[warspite1]

While most of the world is in a state of temporary shock, the Japanese decide to use the diversion in Europe to crank up its offensive in China. Tojo announces a combined move in order to begin getting reinforcements to that theatre.

Meanwhile at the Palazzo Venezia, Mussolini is playing Hunt the Sausage with Clara Petacci, when he receives the news of Hitler's attack on Poland.

"Mamma mia" exclaims the faintly ridiculous buffoon in exaggerated Italian stylee. He leaves his mistress and rushes to find his Chief of Staff. Pietro Badoglio.

"We must be decisive - we must be strong. We cannot sit on the fence, we must join our Fascist partners in their hour of need". exclaims an over-excited Mussolini.
"What do you want to do Il Duce?" asked a nervous CoS.
"We'll er..... do nothing and await developments.....order a combined move - I'm off to continue my important business with Clara".

[warspite1]

And so the serious business of war begins.....

The Japanese send a Heavy Cruiser Squadron to the China Sea to escort TRS and AMPH carrying Yammamoto, the 11th Army and two SNLF corps to China.

[warspite1]

Back to Europe and the Luftwaffe are ordered to put every available bomber into the sky. They want to use the surprise impulse to disorganise as many Polish units as possible. The 5-factor Stuka is given the task of trying to take out the Polish HQ.

[Orm]

Meanwhile at Wilhelm Canaris office.

-It appears that our esteemed leaders Directive No. 1 for the Conduct of the War that is classified as Top Secret has leaked out. I am informed that it is available world wide already. Our enemy must have some sort of spy web that extends deep into our command structure. I instruct you to do your utmost to destroy this web so that our secrets remain secret. After all, it is best if our Fuhrers words are being kept secret.

[warspite1]

The results of the ground strikes are:

North of the capital one unit is disorganised.

[warspite1]

In Lodz, the Stuka failed to disorganise the Polish HQ [:@]

[warspite1]

But in Warsaw, both units were disorganised. "Damn that was stoooopid, I should have put two units against the HQ...." mumbles Goering to himself.

[warspite1]

The 38th Motorised Corps is tasked with capturing the Polish navy holed up in Danzig.

The merchant fleet is destroyed but the Destroyer Flotilla sails from the port in time and heads to England where they will join forces with the Royal Navy.

[warspite1]

And so to the attacks, of which there are three: Poznan, Krakow and the hex north of Warsaw.

[warspite1]

The three attacks are:

Hex north of Poland: Automatic - the defenders are destroyed and the Germans breakthrough.

Poznan: 7:1 - the Poles choose the Assault table, but a roll of 5 sees the Polish Army destroyed for no loss and no disorganisation.

Krakow 7:1 - again the Poles choose the Assault table but even a throw of 3 cannot cause the Germans even a disorganisation let alone a loss.

[warspite1]

And so the impulse ends.... by no means bad for the Germans, but they would have preferred Smigly-Rydz out of the way....

[Courtenay]

The Chinese have a major disadvantage -- they set up before the Japanese. Your set was relatively strong in the center, with the Communists left to themselves. As the Japanese player, I would respond to this by setting up defensively in the center and the south, and driving as hard against the Communists as I possibly could. The fact that the Nationalists are not defending Chengchow makes this strategy feasible. Of course, if the weather goes bad, the strategy falls apart; however, that is true of any Axis strategy that I know of. There aren't very many Communist units; if a few die, the Communists can be in real trouble.

When I set up the Chinise, I put two good, cheap units in Chengchow. I don't expect them to survive, but dealing with them uses up the most valuable Axis commodity -- time.