GD1938 Game 24

[Bombur]

ORIGINAL: ironduke1955

I would not surrender yet with the right allies you could end up on the winning side.

Waiting for a good offer, but with my overall strategy exposed and being at war against the world...well....

[cpdeyoung]

21 July 1941

German troops consolidated their hold over occupied portions of Britain. We expanded both north and south and now control about half the country. Belfast in Northern Ireland was also taken. The RAF took quite a beating in the capture of Manchester and Cardiff, and should not be a big factor in the continuing battle. Our losses have been moderate as the war wearied Britons seem to accept occupation. The United States seem to have gone to war against Great Britain also.

There is even a chance that Great Britain will surrender. The USA will surely take Canada in this case as they are close by. The Asians will probably scoop up British possessions in the Far East. We think Italy and Germany would have an excellent chance in Africa. Unless the Britons are truly weary we think they will stay in for the fight.

Germany will continue to battle in England and Scotland. We have fought long and hard against the British, in many corners of the world. Great Britain, and the French, fought well and stubbornly. After the British Isles are taken we will look at the shape of the world. We have always had peaceful relations with the Soviet Union, and the Italians have been allied to the Soviets for years. China and Japan also have existed in peace with Germany and Italy and we expect that to continue. The Americans have been quick to make peace when British entanglements led to brief states of war. The world could devolve into a state of peace after the British situation is sorted out.

[falco148]

Always 2 sides to every story. Here's mine.....

By the time we (the USA) broke neutrality and entered into an alliance with the British, it was pretty obvious the writing was on the wall for them. They (the British) had been severely clobbered
on all fronts. The Germans were running rampant all over Europe/ME and the Chinese & Japanese had taken just a few months to scuttle the British in India. However I thought it was the right thing
to do in the circumstances. Immediately the demands began for more and more supply and arms. Despite what the British have claimed, the US did hand over submarines, supply, night-bombers etc. The
demands for night-bombers were quite ludicrous. At a time when they should have been pouring all resources into defence the British player wanted to start a strategic bombing campaign(!) but we went
along with it, grudgingly. The incessant demands every turn became very tiresome.

Then came the attempt in the Mediterranean to con the US into war with the Germans by turning over British units and territory (with German & Italians right next to them) that were obviously going to
be attacked next turn (....and were). We had no warning of these plans....zilch.

What I tried explaining to the British player and what I still don't think he understands is the US economy is not geared up for high production at this stage of the war. We had to prepare for a
possible attack by the Japanese (or even the Russians for that matter) in the Far East (something that could still happen yet). We don't have much in that part of the world and that's where most of
my resources were going. Industrial output is not high for the US at this time and it is important for the US player to be real careful and not squander resources.

But what needled us the most was the fact that the British let the Germans rampage all over Europe, Spain, ME and Africa in about five minutes and then expected us to come in and pick up the pieces (same
with the Japanese). Maybe we missed something but we really didn't see the British put up much of a fight. That's what has been most galling about this whole sorry episode.

Anyway that's my 5 cents worth. As I mentioned before, maybe I missed something but if the same events happened again, I would do exactly the same thing.

[Bombur]

I wonder how the USA had 36 months to prepare for war and were with "low productivity levels". My own production was at 250%! Maybe they need a better manager. Well, too much talk about the British not putting much of a fight, let us see how the USA will do against an enemy that isn´t weakened by a fight against every other power in the world and who has a real ally. The 5 minutes were actually 3 years.
We could have repelled the Germany invasion with USA help, the enemy had very low readiness levels in the first turns because the only bases he had were heavily damaged. Wondered if our "ally' at least offered some assistance? On the incessant demands we did, we actually had only two turns of discussions, we simply gave up him as soon we understood he wasn´t willing to help.
You may ally with the USA at your own risk, this game has some RPG features, and some players have a recurrent behaviour. I would follow cpdeyoung and IronDuke to hell, but my experince of an alliance with the current USA player was bad enough to prefer to have him always as an enemy.
On the other hand I agree the idea to give ME territory to USA without talking to him wasn´t a good idea, because I was the first to suggest the USA to avoid war with Germany (because it would have interdicted the Trasn Atlantic routes). Anyway, it was a gamble, I believed they wouldn´t risk war against the USA.

[ironduke1955]

The British and USA alliances are always the most prone to major bust ups between players, to my mind looking at the date 21st July 1941 historically the USA did not enter the war until December 1941, if you are the British player its a thankless task particularly against a unified Japan and China alliance and a German and Italian axis controlled by a very able player(I was going to say brilliant but I decided to avoid the accompanying head swelling) its a perfect storm against the British and it would require very early US entry and a incredibly focused US effort to make much difference to the s**t storm that hit the British.

[Bombur]

Once China and Japan are friends, then Asia (including the Dutch Indias) is lost for the European colonial powers.
I could have resisted more in Europe, I made a major blunder trying a counterattack in Amsterdam.
My usual tactics to build a powerful air force to make Northern France, Belgium and Holland a killing field for the Germans worked, to some extent, until he was able to build a huge airforce (about 5000 aircraft) and inflict massive losses to us, it was useless even to switch to defense. In the end I was able to place 110 Flak in London, but could be nothing with the remaining of cities (some of them got 30-50 Flak). It was the massive losses of ground troops that allowed him to invade.
As for USA, I believe it´s a principle not to lose a foothold in Eurasia. This could be made by making an alliance with the British (or what is left of them) or with the Soviets. An alliance with the Germans mean the USA player wants to be a secondary victor (is legitimate but is a mediocre result for a country with the power of the USA). The best action course for the Americans would have been an alliance with Japan/China, with the British as an auxiliary power. I realized it too late and the USA player wasn´t willing to hear me anyway. Another alternative for the USA is to use its huge navy to control the Atlantic and send a big army to Africa. It can then invade the Southern Europe from the South. It´s not difficult for the USA to have a major effect in the war, as far he can communicate with his allies. Usually those who ally with the USA win the game.
The big doubt. Was my idea to attack German supply sources a good one? I calculated he was spending about 15000 fuel in each raid. My guess that he was short on fuel was based on the fact he retreated his submarines after he was able to destroy my defensive lines of destroyers that was blocking him to reach the Atlantic. It allowed me to send hundreds of units (from Canada) and would have allowed the USA to send another hundreds. Why a player with cpdeyoung skill would do it if he wasn´t short on fuel?

[LJBurstyn]

In real history the USA entered the European war in May 1941 when FDR gave the NAVY orders to attack German units on SIGHT. Germany said nothing as they were not ready for a USA entry into the war. Germany made the mistake of NOT telling the Japanese allies that they were going to attack Russia--this was reflected by the Japanese signing a non-aggression truce pact with the Soviets in April 1941 freeing up the tested Siberian units to the defense of Moscow in October 1941. Of course the Russian had broken the Japanese codes in 1940 so they might have found out about it -- they did not tell the USA that Japan was going to attack the USA. But they knew that the Japanese were not going to break the April 1941 agreement--so they could move the Siberian units without worry about Japan attacking them.

[Bombur]

The British Prime Minister apologizes publicy to the USA player. Our first skirmishes with USA forces showed the USA Army is indeed, in poor shape and was really unable to help the British in their fight against the Germans. In other words, the USA player was correct in denying us help. Considering that the Soviets are now firmly allied with the Axis, we urge the USA to restart diplomatic contact with us and with our allies in order to save the western (and eastern) civilization from totalitarianism. In any case, we will defend Canada (as we are doing in the British Isles) to the last man. We are willing to compensate the USA from the losses suffered by his navy in the battle of the Canarias Islands and also to provide him with 30 of our Spitifires IX, the best fighter worldwide.

[ironduke1955]

Turn 48 July 41

The USSR launched attacks along the Chinese Soviet border making incursions in several places fortunately those borders are not undefended and counter attacks have been made along the whole front. Japan also came under attack in Japanese India. The USA has joined the American/Asian Pacific alliance and we Chinese are honoured to have the United States as a member. The British have also joined to fight to reclaim there Homeland so brutally taken from them by the fascists.

[cpdeyoung]

18 August 1941

German troops continue to advance in the British Isles. All Ireland is now with the Axis.

Other than some activity in Africa the Axis has been quiet. All eyes now turn on the wars between the USA and Britain, and, of course the mighty conflict beginning between the Soviet Union and the Asians.

[LJBurstyn]

Well I have to admit that I was expecting an attack from a different country so I was not prepared for the Massive Soviet invasion of western India. It may be several turns before my two now freed and out of place armies can make it to India.

[baloo7777]

After the being presented with absolute proof that the Indian people were being systematically forced into slave labor camps by the Imperialist Japanese and their Chinese cohorts, the Russian people have decided they cannot stand by idly and watch these despicable uncivilized acts. We have therefore begun the liberation of India, with light Infantry and miltary advisors offering humanitarian aid and protection to our Indian comrades. However, due to the indiscriminate bombing of Indian civiliians by the Japanese Imperialists, the Soviet Union has had to increase our committment of troops and aircraft. We call on all peace loving nations of the world to break diplomatic relations and trade with the Imperialists.

Jos Stalin

[baloo7777]

BTW... I spent PP's on the YAK-9T because its description was that its 37mm gun was good against tanks. However, I just noticed that it has no rating in its combat stats vs armour. Perhaps it was meant to but got missed? My bad for not checking more closely.

[Bombur]

If there is an error here I´m responsible. I will check stats.

[ironduke1955]

The Yak9T should show a stat even if it is zero, you have to scroll down as not all stats are displayed. Armoured attack 500 pretty good.

[ironduke1955]

Chinese reconnaissance have located large Soviet Armoured formations following up the lighter forward Soviet elements, looks like a clash of armour is on the cards. Vladivostock has fallen to the Chinese and the armoured Chinese elements are repositioning for the next battle.

China has pleaded with the British and American's to end the war between them we now have much bigger fish to fry.

The map shows the size of the front if not the positions of the forces.

[baloo7777]

I didn't know you had to compare to see actual numbers. I always looked under combat stats for each type of aircraft, etc. The difference I see is below. A bit confusing.

[baloo7777]

When I use the compare function as you did I get this. Why the difference. Ooops...wrong screenshot. [8|]

[baloo7777]

Here is the screenshot.

[ernieschwitz]

I think you confusion is because the list is sorted differently each other. I can still seee it is possible to scroll on the far right of the picture... I am almost certain you will find it in the list somewhere.