Alternate WWII...a GD 1938 game

[ernieschwitz]

1938, november

Boy! This was a busy turn! I will however try to show as much as possible of the action, without giving too much away to Bombur.

Firstly in a move that shocked the world, Germany declared war and France and Britain! German troops rushed across the Polish border. Soon Poznan and Danzig fell to the superior German forces. There was a big airbattle over the skies of Warsaw, where the Polish Airforce tried to resist the superior German fighters. A special unit of German Polish fighters, produced by the workers of Danzig was not shot down. These traitors will be recieve a special court martial when caught.

The rich coal mine area of Krakow was taken by Czech forces, and the Polish defenders were helpless against the excellent produced Pz38s of the Czech Army (Light Tank IIs). A special Austrian force of volunteers moved in on Warsaw. The Hungarians not wanting to be left out of the action also attacked Polish forces near Lvov.

Meanwhile on the western front, German artillery shelled Luxembourg, then the smallish ally of France was bombed, and finally assaulted from 3 sides, and taken by German Infantry. A similar story can be told of the British and Dutch forces guarding the border of Holland. These were first shelled, and then assaulted by German troops, who after a short fight, were able to march across the front, and now stand at the gates of Amsterdam. Here powerful British forces have taken up positions, and a the battle of Holland is hardly over.

Here is a map showing how the battlefield in europe looked.

[ernieschwitz]

... continued....

A secret pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, is revealed, in foreing papers. It seems they have decided to partition Poland, to share the loot so to speak. Germany also sent it´s submarine fleet into the Atlantic, to disrupt the British supply lines.

Also in the news: Persia declared war on Britain and France as well. Persian troops made a scouting sortie into Iraq, and cut off Kuwait from the rest of the forces in Iraq.

The loss in troops is acceptable. Here is a view of the losses both German (and allies) and French/British forces (as well as their puppets, like Poland, Sweden etc.)

[ernieschwitz]

1938, November.

Italy: Content with making only diplomatic moves, the Italian government seemly does nothing when war breaks out in Europe all around her borders. Instead, an alliance is made with Spain, and it is agreed that Spain will from now on follow Italian ambitions. (Spain is annexed by Italy). The burden of keeping these new forces in supply has fallen on the Bologna Chemical Factory, which was recently built.

[ernieschwitz]

1938, November.

Japan: A message was recieved via courrier from the American government. At least it was supposedly from the American government. Japanese authorities are trying to verify that this message indeed was from the Americans. It was strange, in that it was threatening, and dealt with internal Japanese matters. Until clarification has been made, Japanese offensives continue.

Chinese forces had been falling back in disarray, until recently. It seems they are willing to make a final stand at the gates of Chungking and Sian. An offensive was started in the area between Tsingtao and Peking. The plains there are ideal for tanks to prove what an offensive weapon they can be...

Here is a view of the map.

[ernieschwitz]

1938, November

The Soviet Union made a big show of signing a mutal alliance pact with Germany. Also Bialystock was taken by Soviet troops, but apart from that, there was really no news to speak of. Rumours has it that there was a major offensive push to get Warsaw before the Germans, but it failed, with catastrophic loss in life.

[ernieschwitz]

Intermezzo, Italy

The Italians are a fascinating country to play. They are weak, yet so full of potential. Also they have a nice fleet, that is ready to fight the British in their area, which cannot be said for any of the other Axis powers, save Japan.

One of the more fascinating aspects of GD 1938, in it´s versions after v. 0.80 is the existance of special units. Here is one of the more specialized Italian SFTs, the Fiat CR-42. It is available for a mere 30 PP, so a cheap upgrade over the Fighter Is you start out with. Like the Fighter Is it is not a single winged airplane, it is a biplane. However, it can be upgraded to Fighter III, when available. It also has a very good preformance compared to the Fighter I. So it in my view pays off to buy them. Here is a simple screeenshot of the SFT, and the text that bombur has written.

[ernieschwitz]

1938, December.

If you are reading the Foreign papers, especially those from the West, you will undoubtedly have heard about how Luxembourg was retaken by the French. This is true, they did hold it, for a while, but the German high command, OKW, decided that this would not be for long, and ordered a counterattack. Luxembourg fell, again, and the French divisions there were badly mauled, and had to flee back to the Maginot line.

Elsewhere, in Poland, Warsaw is surrounded on all sides. However, the recent attack by Soviet forces had left a high battlestack value on the hex, so an offensive was postponed, until january 1939. The traitor flyers of the Danzig Traitor wing, have been shot down, and some of the pilots turned over to the Gestapo.

There was a massive battle for Amsterdam. It began with shelling and bombing by the Luftwaffe, and ended with a huge assault conducted by among others the 7th Army, that really is a panzer army. This was the first time the Germans faced tanks of comparable value to their own. Despite the huge amount of tanks involved in this battle, the tank losses on the German side were pretty low.

Here is a look at the European battlefield.

[ernieschwitz]

1938 December,

The Italians did very little this turn. Or seemingly very little. Some troop movements in Spain might not bode so well for France, although, it seems that Britain is worried about what an alliance between General Franco and Mussolini, might mean for their possesions in Spain: Gibraltar. It has been massively reinforced.

In China, the 4th Japanese Army tried an assault on Chungking. Taking the city and its rich coal mines, would rob the chinese of it´s last valuable supply source (In this game, cities produce supplies, but at a very expensive rate, the best supply sources are Chemical Factories, Oil wells and Coal Mines). The city however held out, and it seems China is giving a respite, for now.

The Soviets suffered losses to their black sea fleet, which is now gone. And their submarines took a heavy toll as well. 10 submarine IIs were lost to the greedy imperialistic capitalist, also known as Great Britain. The Soviet people vow to avenge these brave submarine crews.

[Bombur]

December 1938. Allied Report

France: Poland is close to its final collapse, there isn´t nothing we can do to prevent it. At least the Soviet took heavy losses. The performance of Soviet armed forces has been poor in this game, possibly due to the recent purges of officials. In the West Front we have a stalemate. Luxembourg was lost again and captured again. The country already shifted hands four times in the last two turns.
GB: The British Empire suffered a serious defeat with the loss of Amsterdam. The city defenses were considered invinvcible and they were broken by the Germans with relatively light losses. reinforcements were shiiped accross the channel to prevent a German advance in Belgium. To make things even worse, German air units inflicted heavy losses to British warships in the North Sea. Considering all operations, the British lost about 30 destroyers. On the other hand, ASW operations are going well, with more than 40 Soviet and German submarines destroyed in the last months, however, we are worried with the appearance of some new German submarines that are much more difficult to sink and even can fight back our destroyers. In the ME Front, the port of Abadan was captured.
USA: The USA public opinion and the Congress still oppose to any intervention in Europe, however, the USA navy is sending small units to the Atlantic in order to help finding German Uboats. Information on the location of these units will be passed to the Western allies, but no offensive action is to be takes against German U-Boats
China: The victory over Japan in the first battle of Chungking delayed the collapse of China, but situation remains bleak.

[ernieschwitz]

1939, January.

No screenshots this turn, as the front didn´t move all that much.

Germany reconquered Luxembourg, and took the final piece of mainland Holland. Unfortunately blowing up the bridge across the Rhine in the process. The artillery bombardment simply proved to much for the bridges. Time for the Engineers to prove their worth. The German tanks none the less forded the raging river, and beat the fleeing British and French that had come up to stabilize the line. Again it was a major tank-battle with more french and british losses than German. Mostly thanks to the Luftwaffe I think.

German subs are wreaking havoc with the british suppy lines. At least that is my impression. It is a joy to see the many blue dots and occasional white ones, that line the ocean traderoutes. As bombur has reported, Germany has built a few Submarine IIIs. These have very great range. I expect them to cause problems for him, for a long time to come.

Italy convinced Portugal to join their alliance. Once Spain had been convinced it was a small matter to make the portugese make up their minds. This means that Italy is quite the colonial power... with bases of operation from Timor in the East to the Azores in the West. In africa alone they control Ethiopia and Somalia (known as Italian East Africa), Mocambique and Angola, along with Spanish Morocco. A few naval units left the Mediterranian Sea to visit some of these places. Italy must make it´s pressence known, now that it is a (smaller) super power.

In China, the Japanese 3rd Army managed to capture Sian, and troops in the Southern part of China moved closer to Chungking, that is now besieged on 3 sides. The Chinese seem to want to hide in the mountains. Which is particulary annoying, but i guess it´s to be expected. In Chungking they however are standing fast. Japan also bought a technology this turn, fighter III, soon they will have Naval Fighter III, and the elusive Zero will rule the skies.

The Soviet Peoples Paradise is in the middle of a military restructing periode. It seems that due to the many recent purges of highly trained, yet treachurous officers, the Army is ill led. This will change, and the might Soviet Empire will rise again. The Soviet papers however are full of the news of how Soviet Airmen from the AV-MF naval airforce, have made the Imperialistic french and british flee the black sea. Stalin is pleased with this. Although his mood is somewhat grim, because he lost the bet with Hitler about who would conquer Warsaw first. The prize, that Stalin has now paid, is that the oil fields in Ploesti have been granted to Germany.

[Bombur]

West turn

France: Luxembourg was taken again, as Holland collapses, French Divisions rush to defend Antwerp. French fighters orders to engage German fighters attempting ground support missions.
GB: The defeats in Holand were avenged to some extent by naval and air units that attacked the advancing German units. German losses were relatively high, and we believe the push to Antwerp will be delayed. In the Atlantic the hunt for enemy submarines isn´t going as well as in the first turns. We sank morre 13 enemy subs in all Fronts, but also lost two destroyers, one naval fighter and one torpedo bomber
USA: Nothing to report
China: The end is near, as the government in Chungking was ordered to evacuate the city. There nothing that could be done to stop the Japanese.

[ernieschwitz]

1939, Febuary.

Heavy losses to the 7th Army (also known as the 2nd Panzer Army) had to withdraw from their positions in Holland, and retreat across the Rhine. They had been badly mauled, as had their infantry friends from 2 other Armies. Most could make it across but a few lacked the mobility to do so...

So I decided to mount a rescue mission, of sorts, that turned into a grand offensive. First Brussels was shelled and bombed, to reduce it´s resistance to my upcoming attack. Then the 1st Panzer Army (i forgot which army it is exactly) along with elements from the 6th Army stormed the city. The defenders hadn´t expected it, and it was a great victory. With Brussels taken, i then had to decide what to do. I had two choices, I could go for the jagular, and hit Antwerp, isolating a strong unit of tanks, located north of Antwerp, or I could try and face off this armoured army that had dared to stand in the way of my other panzers. I chose the latter.

Again I shelled and bombed the French and British, and they took heavy losses. I then attacked from across the Rhine, and with the stragglers that had been left behind by the fleeing Panzer Army, along with troops from the 6th Army in Brussels. The attack went well, and the hapless British and French found there was nowhere to flee, as Bombur had almost maxxed out the number of units in Antwerp, so they could not flee, or they would overstack. The result was devastating!

Then, to continue what has now become a tradition, German troops took Luxembourg, again. The city has long since been reduced to rubble, and the ruins serve as a grim reminder that here there has died many a young Frenchman and German.

The german submarines are playing tag with french and british destroyers in the atlantic. Mostly the submarines seem to be winning. Here is a map of the european battlefield as it looked at the end of the German turn...

[ernieschwitz]

... continued...

German airmen also took a chance and attacked the air units located in Antwerp. Many of these were Belgian fighters that had no HQs any more. The losses were huge, on both sides. A total of 11 fighters were lost, as the Anti-Aircraft guns also took their toll.

The German Night Bomber wing has also been working hard. They have been bombing Lille ever since the war broke out. However, they inflict less damage than is repaired automatically each turn. Still since production is calculated before city regeneration, it has taken a little toll on the French, each turn. Hopefully their fuel situation cannot handle it prolonged.

Italy had another quiet turn. Mostly filled with Naval movements, and little else. A small bug in the game prevents Italy from producing Fighter IIs until 1940 (it has been corrected in the version we are working on), which Bombur thought would be very bad for the Italians... Luckily I have a plan. I won´t reveal it yet, but I think it just might work.

[ernieschwitz]

1939 Febuary,

China has lost the 2nd Sino-Japanese war. There is no doubting that. With the fall of the capitol in Chungking, and the conquest of it´s many coal mines, Japan has robbed the Chinese of any meaningful way to supply their army. Also their last source of fuel is now gone. Perhaps they can make some synthetic fuel in their cities, but, it is doubtful it will help them in the long run.

So, having pushed all the way from Shanghai to Chungking, and from Peking to Sian, and now almost to the gates of Yenan, the Japanese army feels pride. Pride in it´s men, equipement, strategy and tactics. Surely the western powers must now realize that Japan is an equal to them, if not even more than that.

With the victory being so sure, and clear, the Japanese high command has sent a suggestion to the Chinese warlords that rule what is left of China: Surrender.

Here is how the map of China looked at the end of the Japanese turn.

[ernieschwitz]

1939, Febuary.

Russia: Apart from Russians in Murmansk celebrating the homecoming of a succesful submarine squadron, nothing is happening in Russia. Outside of Russia, in the dutch east indies, submarines are playing around with the British surface fleet. Sinking ships by the dozens, and intercepting valuable supplies. The same is to be said of the Soviet submarines that are intercepting the Swedish Iron ore, that is transported by sea. All in all, a peaceful yet meaningful turn.

[ernieschwitz]

March 1939.

Germany: Despite reports of a major setback in Belgium (of course reported by the liars of the British press) the German army continues it´s advance. Luxembourg once again changed hands, German troops regained the lost territory in Belgium, and now stand before the gates of Antwerp, and the Ardennes were penetrated, by German armored units... that now stand before the gates of Lille. The chemical factories of Lille where once again bombed at Night... with the same predictable results. Their was a major air battle over Antwerp, where German fighters were victorious, shooting down more than 6 enemy (SFT) fighters, for the loss of only 2 (SFT). ... that ratio is quite acceptable.

In Persia a joint German, Soviet operation is botched, when Persian Cavalrymen forget to warn Soviet Tankers, about an ambush laid by the British. The submarines in the Atlantic continue to report of great victories, sinking merchantman after merchantman.

Italy: Nothing really to report... other than the Regia Marina meeting in Naples, to discuss naval strategies, should this be neccessary. There has been alot of posturing made by the British in the Mediterranian Sea. Their victories in the Black Sea may have gone to their heads. The Iberian Fleet has moved out of the Mediterranian, to visit Portugal.

Japan: The 3rd Army reports that it has destroyed the Army HQs of a Chinese Army in the area near Yenan. There has been contacts between the Japanese empire and the Chinese warlords, to discus a surrender of China. These talks have out of respect for the Americans been called peace talks, but the agenda is clear, China must surrender.

Soviet Union: There has been reports of naval battles in the waters near Indochina. Several Soviet Submarines seem to have been lost. Other than that, there are no reports coming out of the secretive country.

[Bombur]

March 1939:
France: The last month brought us a lot of bad news. An attempt to retake Luxembourg was repulsed with massive losses. The road is now opened to an offensive against the Maginot wall. Antwerp is surrounded from three sides, and while the Germans are taking heavy losses from air and naval bombardment, they still have formidable forces to assualt the city. To make things even worse, the sea route from Indochina to France is essentially closed due to enemy U-Boats. Sucess against the submarine threat had been modest in the last months.
Great Britain: Aginst our air forces and artillery inflicted heavy losses to enemy ground forces, but the Luftwaffe seems to have introduced a new version of their Bf-109 (Fighter IV). Meanwhile, the development of our new Spitifire has been plagued by technical issues. Our Hurricanes are starting to suffer losses in their missions (the French level II fighters did somewhat better this turn). On the other hand we started mass production of long range ASW planes and we hope to stop the enemy pirates from disrupting our sea trade.
USA: President Roosevelt is lobbying the Congress in order to intevene in the war. Events in Eurasia are worrisome, as all the continent could fall in hands of hostile nations. A harsh diplomatic exchange with Japan ended with the American President threatening to burn Japanese cities and starve their people. An empty threat, at least for now, however, the Americans are deeply impressed with the efficiency of German and Soviet submarines and had just developed a long range submarine whose performance is similar to the new U Boat-VII´s (Submarine III)
China: The Chinese vow to continue their fight against the enemy invader

[ernieschwitz]

April 1939,

Hitler is not pleased. A perfectly planned offensive to breakthrough the French defences at Lille failed. Whose fault was it? The airmen say they did their bombing perfectly. The Artillery divisions claim they did their aiming correctly and accounted for much damage. The Panzerleaders and their infantry companions claim they fought valiantly. So whose to blaim? Hitler is furious! They are all to blame!

For the first time since the war has begun, there is no movement on the frontlines. The German initiative may be lost, maybe for good...

The Duce, has no plans on joining this war if Germany cannot even set foot on the french mainland. Speaking of the Duce, he has been seen at numerous airshows recently. Here the Italians are bragging with their new heavy fighter Is. Wether or not they are effective in combat is yet to be seen.

The Japanese were shocked that the Americans sent them a threat to burn down their cities, and blockade their ports. The the emporers generals reminded the Emporer that empty barrels sounds the most. They had a good laugh about the American threats. Our agents in America say that their congress and senate is so split on the subject of intervension abroad, that there is no need to worry.

Meanwhile the Japanese offensive towards Yenan continues. Apparantly leaderless troops are now being thrown at the Japanese warmachine in an effort to stop it. Needless to say, this does not work. Japanese troops now stand before the gates of Yenan.

In Soviet Russia, things are quiet. But soon, what the Soviets have been up to, will be revealed...

[ernieschwitz]

1939, May,

The German warmachine is once again on the move. This time taking Antwerp. First a bombardment from most of the Reichwehrs artillery was done. The counter battery fire was not very nice, and two artillery formations were lost to the retaliation. Then the Luftwaffe followed up with a merciless attack, utilizing most of Germanies bombers. After this softening up, panzer and infantry formations attacked, and took the city. Predictably, not much was left of it. Still this is a major victory!

Speaking of major victories. The Kriegsmarine had one of it´s finer moments this month. First a group of Submarines attacked the British Channel Fleet, that was located in the english channel (between London and Amsterdam). Several ships were sunk, including 2 cruisers. The Luftwaffe decided to follow up on this attack, and with adequate fighter cover, the stukas of the Luftwaffe were able to sink most of the fleet. The German surface fleet then moved out to sea, and sunk the remaining battleship and destroyers. The Channel Fleet is no more.

Here is map of how Europe looked after this turn.

[ernieschwitz]

1939, May,

No news from Italy this turn.

The Japanese continue to grind their way towards Yenan. Once captured this would mean that the chinese forces in the north of China would be cut off from the forces in the Southern mountains of China. This is the Japanese goal, for now....

In the middle-east a startling new series of events have unfolded. A very mobile Army of the Soviet Peoples Paradise, has begun an offensive towards Kuwait and Iraq. A battle has already taken place, and the forces from Britain are retreating... Also there was a major Airbattle over the oil wells in Mosul. Here long range soviet heavy bombers heavily damaged the production facilities. The Soviet long range fighters (heavy fighters I and II) were able to prevent the shooting down of any bombers, but it was at a high cost to themselves. It had recently been reported that the planes guarding this area were of the old Gladiator type (Fighter Is) but it turned out they had rebased, and instead a group of Turkish Hurricanes (Fighter IIIs) had taken up base there. Still the heavy fighters managed to shoot down a few hurricanes. (1 SFT).