A musical global war AAR...

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The Belorussian Front:

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And here is the weather report for the next couple of impulses:

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July/August 1941, Allied impulse number 5:

In the United States, again the President calls in a national Radio broadcast unto Congress to pass the Declaration of War bill. The Japanese have attacked the peacefull Netherlands! That is an outrage and this means that the United States can't trust the Japanese. That is not an honourable nation. The Japanese Empire needs to be taken down by arms...

Listen to: Miss You - Freddy Martin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqMz5gnnhH4

However, the next morning, the Washington Post opens with a main article: “US Government money spend to buy Dutch Oil by Britain. Illegal US-British conspiracy against Japan!”. It appears that German intelligence found proof in captured Dutch Government archives at The Hague, reporting large financial irregularities regarding the installment of the Dutch Oil Embargo against Japan. The British received very large sums out of United States government funds to be able to buy Dutch oil against very high prices, which the Japanese couldn't affort to pay. Abwehr and it's leader Admiral Canaris was very efficient and gave this information with all documents which proves this to the newspaper and not to Dr. Goebbels. The last one isn't pleased by this at all. Canaris, when confronted by Hitler answers: "I thought it was in the German interests to let the United States newspapers make the necessary propaganda, instead of the Deutschlandsender. I believe I'm right, Mein Führer, since the US government is now heavily involved in legal matters and can't concentrate on international affairs for a couple of months". Goebbels mumbels something about having the final say on publications...

Several high officials in the government resign and Congress even talks about replacing the President, due to the fact that several laws are broken by the US government. Senators Taft and Ranking are appointed to lead an investigating committee...

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Again, one US entry and one tension chit is removed. The President, in private: “bloody Isolationists”...

Comment: I've registered the chances of a succesfull DoW by the US against Japan. As soon as the US is at war, I will publish those percentages.

France passes, the USSR and the CW takes land and the United States a combined action...

Storm means that the Japanese can't attack the US fleet in Pearl Harbor. Therefore, it is decided to stay in port.

The Soviet airforce decides to use the TB-3's to ground strike units at the front. The Luftwaffe's FTR's are still out of range to prevent these attacks. One is at Pskov:

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The other near Minsk:

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The USSR rail moves the Vitebsk factory to Karaganda in Siberia. The Moscow MIL is railed into Leningrad.

Here's: Fanfare march of the Guards Divisions (Semeon Tchernetsky)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaSAV3rETzU

Units are moved around the globe by the CW and the USSR moves units to try to close the Gap near Pskov. Zhukov reorganises the two artillery divisions at the frontlines.

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The Middle East Front:

[Klydon]

Well, probably the choice that had to be made. The 4 oil is far more valuable to Japan than the 10 convoy points are to the CW, but the CW getting those extra 10 points at this particular time is going to be a shot in the arm. The US setbacks are very bad news for the Allied cause however. With die rolls like that, they will never enter the war unless directly attacked.

The other thing is considerable damage has been done in terms of what the US can do for picks. I think most of the important ones got picked, but I don't know for sure. The US may well be in trouble in terms of trying to up the tension level again to get to the point where a DoW is not such a heavy risk. They are at the point now where if they try again and fail, it may be a long time before the US can get into the war.

The Germans appear to be making progress in the north, but the south looks pretty strong and Guderian is going nowhere against double stacks in the mountains. The Axis plan is going to have to be to cause Russian casualties somehow in order to thin the fronts down in order to give weaker spots to take advantage of.

The Russians appear to have a pretty strong front against Japan as well and while Japan needs some land forces elsewhere, they really can't afford to move any facing the Russians. Do the Japanese have some troops still committed in China they can move out, but just have not had a chance or are they down to the garrison minimum? They will get a few more units in the build pool for 1942, but it won't be until into 1942 that they will see additional land units. And of course, since its Japan, they need to be building everything else in terms of naval and air as well.

Enjoyable as always to read through this one. Thanks for doing it.

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The Japanese are down to the garrison ratio in China. The Manchurian Front is very slowly emptying. About 1 or 2 unit a turn leave for the German Front in Russia or the war in the pacific. It is a phoney war there. There are still INF in the Japanese forcepool which will slowly be build. Planes (especially CVP) had priority for the Japanese.

The Germans are short on land units. They also need to guard against partisans in the West. Guderian has got a large airforce and that will make the difference in the mountains. The Iraqi oil fields are almost taken by Germany, which was of course the top priority. Personally, I don't believe that the Germans are available to inflict large losses on the USSR. The best troops are with Guderian and there simply isn't enough on the Eastern Front. Sure, most stacks say that there are two units, but a lot of those German stacks are one good unit and a division. Germany lacks manpower and longer range planes to really do the USSR any harm. Any low odds attack by Germany is a death trap for them. In the North, it looks a little better as compared with the Ukraine, were the USSR line is stronger than in the North...

Now that the Japanese are at war with the Netherlands, a lot of chits will be drawn against them each turn. 3 is the maximum which can be put in the Japanese entry pools. Also, there are quite a few options not chosen:

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July/August 1941, Axis impulse number 6:

In Berlin, the Führer is very pleased if he hears about the political madness which is currently paralizing the United States. However, the progress in the USSR is slow, too slow.

Listen to the: Marsch der Sturmartillerie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVxQ958pfuw

Now: did you notice somthing in the picture?

All Axis powers take land actions.

On Java, the Marines move towards Batavia and Yamashita is embarked on it's doorstep too. However, MWIF currently has a bug present, which doesn't allow the Japanese to attack CW controlled units (even when they are at war with those units). However, I should be able to attack the NEI TERR there, so I have to simulate that combat and to use the “magic wand” we beta testers have available to get things done according to the rules. This means that I have to do the calculations myself:

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There we go: Yamashita and the marines have 17 factors. The Japanese BB's and one cruiser at sea use shore bombardment into the hex (it is the weather in the hex that counts, not the storms at open sea) adding another 13 factors to the Japanese. That makes this 30. Against 3 factors on the Dutch side, makes this attack a +20. Batavia is a city hex, so a -1 modifier applies. However, the defending unit is a lone TERR, which than gives us a +2 agains, since I don't use TERR to attack that unit. This sums up as a +21. That therefore results in an automatic victory for the Japanese. On Sumatra, the oil fields in Palembang are taken by a Japanese division.

Let's listen to: 《軍歌》軍艦マーチ（"Gunkan māchi "～March "Man-of-War"～）

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A75AQgDBtJI

Germany and Italy are reinforcing the frontlines against the USSR. The OKH becomes impatient. It wants results in the East now! Attacks are declared on the Kirkuk oil fields and near Pskov, while Students Para's drop on top of Timosheko's headquarters:

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Von Rundstedt declares the attack, on Timoshenko and Germany's oldest soldier is seen in the frontlines (HQ support added). This is a high risk, high gain attack.
The hex the paradrop was on, has a notional unit. However it sometimes isn't good to include that unit in the battle. This is one of those battles:

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The Luftwaffe flies a Me110 into the hex, to provide FTR cover, if the USSR wants to use ground support. However, with the Heinkel FTR only two hexes away, two FTR's on the side of the Luftwaffe is considered to be too much to be dealt with. Timoshenko has to fight on his own. He calls for the assault table:

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Von Rundstedt gets a smashing victory.

Near Pskov, a Soviet artillery corps provide support into the attacked hex, making this attack a very, very risky affair for the Wehrmacht. Rommel chooses the Blitz table:

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Now, that wasn't too bad at all. This attack could have ended up with losses at the German side. It didn't. Luck is still with the Wehrmacht...

Finally: Kirkuk. Guderian calls for the Blitzkrieg table:

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Rommel reorganises the Stuka and an Arm.

Here is the Karelian Front:

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The Belorussian Front:

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The Ukrainian Front:

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The Middle East front:

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And let's put in the phoney war at the Manchurian Front too: