The Sound of Drums - A British Hearts of Iron II AAR

potatokiosk said:

I'd like to join this. Just give me a job where I can do nothing.

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Governor General of Canada.

Egypt definately needs reinforcements. If it comes to war, I would like to have an army ready to drive into Ethiopia if possible, or at least have the navy eliminate any Italian or other threat to shipping lanes coming from South Africa, India, Australian, New Zeland etc.

We can bring some ANZAC and Indian troops to help in Africa in a war, but I would not leave Burma and Indonesia unguarded.

We don't have to worry about Italy disrupting shipping lanes all that much. If war was declared, we would seal off the Strait of Gibraltar and Suez Canal to all Italian ships, trapping them in the Mediterranean. All we would need to worry about is shipping routes through the Med. (Malta and Cyprus). If need be, we can always reroute supplies through Nigeria and French West Africa. But the Royal Navy should be able to handle any threat from the Italian navy.

We should keep a batch of submarines ready in the Mediterranean to stop any italian or german transports.

1st January - 7th March 1936


The difficulties of administration were made quite clear in the opening months of 1936. Britain was in short supply of the resources needed to keep the Empire running, and gaining more was a difficult job indeed. To cope, the Prime Minister created a new Ministry within his government - one to carefully administer natural resources - with one Lord Yuri as its head.

The new job was made all the more easier by the decision to form new trade agreements to procure such materials. Most were willing to send Britain supplies in return for some of the more common resources, but some more shrewd deals - such as between Spain and Poland - secured an income of much needed rare materials. These would be needed over the coming months as Britain increased her economy through the construction of additional industrial sites, and improved the efficiency of her existing base.

For the military, the rejuvenation was most obvious in the early weeks of January, as the Cammell Laird Yards laid down the keels of the twin ships, Ark Royal and Invincible, both new aircraft carriers. Both due to be commissioned towards the end of 1937, their creation represented the Admiralty’s newfound belief that carriers were the way forward for the Royal Navy.

And while the construction of two such important vessels may not have had a profound effect on the international stage, the great naval parades held throughout January and February certainly did. The British public were delighted with such a proud display of Britain’s apparent dominance of the waves, and several foreign ambassadors - including those from Germany and France - were quick to compliment the events. Less enthusiastic were the Americans, worrying that such arrogance would provoke the Japanese into a new naval race in the Pacific.

Unfortunately, some events were completely outside the control of the Prime Minister and his government.


The death of the King

A popular figure, his death cast a shadow upon Britain for the next few weeks. His successor, Edward VIII, did not help matters, with some government officials worrying that for all his charm, he would be a poor leader. For the moment however, there remained an uneasy peace between the government and the new monarch, particularly when later events forced attention to the continent. On March 7th, German forces entered the Rhineland.

Since the end of the Great War, the region had been forbidden to the German military, effectively creating another barrier between them and France. The rise of Hitler’s Germany had seen a sudden burst of courage among its people, and a desire to remove the restrictions that the Treaty of Versailles had forced on them. Seeing a weakened League of Nations and sensing that France would be unwilling to act, the Fuhrer took his chances and reclaimed the region.


The first sign of a new German threat?

At the time, the re-militarization of the Rhineland was simply seen as Germany’s natural right after being forced back by Versailles for so long. In later years the event could be seen as the one that boosted Hitler’s confidence into pushing Germany further, as well as giving Britain the push it needed to realise the defences of herself and her colonies needed to be improved. It was the first step on the road to war…

On the navy situation, the fleet has been gathered at Scapa Flow and I will post as good a list I can on their composition in the next couple of days.

The King is dead. Long live the King!

For the moment at least.

New Carriers? fantastic- if they didn't take so long to build and I wasn't so impatient, I'd love the things.

Are we going to sink to the level of Naval bombers to help maintain naval superiority? (many player do consider them too gamey... not me though)

Oh and I read somewhere that the ideal naval fleet is comprised of about 5 carriers, 5 light cruisers/and or 5 destroyers, and between 1-3 subs; I think it's called a Carrier Task Force- Can anyone vouch for this? Everytime I try it it always seems to disappoint slightly... maybe it's because me and practical naval strategy don't get along...

Peck of Arabia said:

Are we going to sink to the level of Naval bombers to help maintain naval superiority? (many player do consider them too gamey... not me though)

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Decision of the Air Force, I believe. Personally I don't mind them, but then I rarely ever use them. Particularly with a naval power such as Britain.

Peck of Arabia said:

Oh and I read somewhere that the ideal naval fleet is comprised of about 5 carriers, 5 light cruisers/and or 5 destroyers, and between 1-3 subs; I think it's called a Carrier Task Force- Can anyone vouch for this? Everytime I try it it always seems to disappoint slightly... maybe it's because me and practical naval strategy don't get along...

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We only have 6 carriers at the moment, and too much of a world to spread them round. My preferred group involves three large armadas with two carriers each and a host of other vessels, then several smaller fleets to reinforce them, or protect smaller regions.

Good news about the carriers, Britannia rules the waves and all that. What what.

Can I enquire as to why the fleet's at Scapa Flow? The fleet was initially moved to Scapa Flow in WW1 at the request of Sir John Jellico to allow for a safe harbour for the Home Fleet and, to also allow the British to stop a mass break out of the, threatening Imperial German fleet via the North Sea / Denmark Straight.

However, the German Navy is no more, there can be no mass rush out of Kiel. Sure they have some powerful ships in the Deutschland and Graff Spree but they're not exactly going to be able do much against such superior numbers? The only way they can top the sheer might of the Royal Navy is through subterfuge, so submarines and naval bombers are the future for Germany and these will have a field day against our larger capital ships.

For this reason, surely airpower could patrol Dogger Bank to negate any German forays into the region whilst allowing the mass of the Royal Navy to patrol further West and the precious trade routes or, if necessary, to the Med, to remind the Italians that the Mediterranean Sea is most certainly not mare nostrum

I would also give thoughts to drawing home ships from regions such as the Caribbean and the West Coast of Africa. Britain own the waves there and simply the thought of force is enough to keep the locals in line, whilst I'm sure the guns of the Ajax and her sisters would do well against the thin hulls of German destroyers


............ should the need arise of course

Can you ally with Germany as Great Britain? That would be a surprising move!

Technically yes, but you would have to leave the Allies and get your Democratic/Authoritarion slider over a bit in 3 years.

steviejay said:

Can I enquire as to why the fleet's at Scapa Flow? The fleet was initially moved to Scapa Flow in WW1 at the request of Sir John Jellico to allow for a safe harbour for the Home Fleet and, to also allow the British to stop a mass break out of the, threatening Imperial German fleet via the North Sea / Denmark Straight.

However, the German Navy is no more, there can be no mass rush out of Kiel. Sure they have some powerful ships in the Deutschland and Graff Spree but they're not exactly going to be able do much against such superior numbers? The only way they can top the sheer might of the Royal Navy is through subterfuge, so submarines and naval bombers are the future for Germany and these will have a field day against our larger capital ships.

For this reason, surely airpower could patrol Dogger Bank to negate any German forays into the region whilst allowing the mass of the Royal Navy to patrol further West and the precious trade routes or, if necessary, to the Med, to remind the Italians that the Mediterranean Sea is most certainly not mare nostrum

I would also give thoughts to drawing home ships from regions such as the Caribbean and the West Coast of Africa. Britain own the waves there and simply the thought of force is enough to keep the locals in line, whilst I'm sure the guns of the Ajax and her sisters would do well against the thin hulls of German destroyers


............ should the need arise of course

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Well, at the moment the fleet is just assembling at Scapa Flow so that we can divide it up and distrubute it around the globe. And Scapa Flow is still a viable naval base. From there we can reach the German coast and should be able to reach the Baltic sea ports. If the Germans were to get uppity and attempt to block access to the Baltic by capturing Copenhagen, then there is not much we could do unless we wanted to confront them directly on the continent and take back Denmark.

And would there really be a point in keeping any sizable naval force in the Caribbean? What we already have there (2 Cruisers and a few destroyers IIRC) is more than sufficient. After all, there are no direct threats to our bases in the region at the moment.

Oh, and by the way, its Graf Spee, not Graff Spree.

Here are someways we could be invaded.




Edit: updated map

You missed one, the Japenes could attack Vietnam and go to Burma that way.

I thank our Minister of Silly Walks for answering the 'Scapa Flow' question posed to us by an obviously outspoken member of the British newspaper reporters. His view is my own.

we could also be invaded via a quick soviet push into Germany and Poland, of course thats only if Einstein successfully kills Hitler

And the Soviets could also push through Afghanistan and attack India