The road to Moscow - A French Hearts of Iron II AAR

...or the road to Paris

This is going to be a somewhat odd AAR as its going to start mid war. The first two following posts will give an overview of the recent action whilst this post will be used to fill in some extra details.

First things first, this is the current state of the four alliances:

Allies:

UK -Leader
Iraq
Australia
New Zealand
Canada
South Africa
Nepal
Bhutan
Yemen
Oman
Belgium - Military Control
Netherlands - Military Control
Republican Spain - Military Control
USA
Liberia
Yugoslavia - Military Control
Venezuela

Philippines (Annexed by Japan)


At war with:

Axis, Comintern, Japan's alliance

Axis:

Germany
Hungary

Slovakia (Annexed by Soviet Union)

At war with:

Allies, Comintern

Comintern:

Soviet Union
Mongolia
Tannu Tuva

At war with:

Allies, Axis

Japan's alliance:

Japan
Manchukuo
Mengkukuo
Nationalist China (puppet)
Siam

At war with:

Allies

Notable annexed countries:

Austria - Germany
Czechslovakia - Germany
Poland - Germany
Portugal - Republican Spain
Greece - UK
Italy - France
Bulgaria - UK
Romania - UK

So essentially everyone is at war with the allies with a few nations that have managed to remain neutral and I'm not sure whether it would be worth trying to convince them to join as most would likely be steamrollered by one of our enemies or be strategically redundant.

Our research situation:



Our tech research is our strong point with our infantry fully upgraded to 43 infantry and 45 infantry research well under way although if nuclear weapons are going to decide the war then we have a long way to go particularly as we would struggle to spare the IC to fund a nuclear reactor.

A screenshot of military comparison:



Essentially we are outnumbered by the enemy quite considerably however if the USA can force Japan out of the war with their navy then the stats might look a little better. Our support costs are also eating a large percentage of our production so whilst we still have free man power, it isn't necessarily possible for us to still spam infantry.

Its best not to compare navies as most of the French navy is resting at the bottom of the Mediterranean where the Italian navy sent it. Fortunately the USA and the UK can dominate the seas for us.

Our airforce is the sixth biggest in the world however once again the UK and USA help to give the allies the largest overall airforce.

A screenshot of the pacific front:



Our interest in the east is largely over except in the hope that the USA and the UK can defeat Japan as soon as possible and then help in the great war in Europe. We also have control of the Netherlands military so we have a few units in the east.

Positions:

Northern front commander - Overall command of the French and Belgian front - bruce57
Italian front commander - Overall command of the Italian front

Spanish commander - Responsible for the Republican Spain troops under our command
Benelux commander - Responsible for the Belgian and Dutch troops under our command - Jos Ballenbak
Yugoslavian commander - Responsible for the Yugoslavian troops under our command

Airforce commander (Lille)
Airforce commander (Milan)

A Naval commander for the remaining small ships under our command. Our largest fleet is a Spanish fleet consisting of 7 vessels.

Then the usual Research and Industrial positions.

Update one: (I'll be posting more varied screenshots in future updates)



Since the initial German invasion the border with France, Belgium and Rotterdam has not changed at all and the last German attack was in July 1941 whilst we haven't attacked at all except during the initial invasion when we counter attacked Eindhoven to rescue some Dutch troops in Ultrecht.

Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal (and briefly Yugoslavia) joined the axis and at the same time Republican Spain joined our alliance. Mainland Portugal fell quickly however the first nation to be annexed was Greece a couple of months before the screenshot, with Portugal being annexed next and finally Italy after fighting a year long campaign. The worst fighting was over Sicily where the Italians made a last stand and repelled a number of attempted invasions.

The next step is Germany with my newly upgraded 43 infantry and then we have to take on the SU who we are also at war with.

Japan and USA have not gone to war even though Japan conquered China.

Update 2 (I plan on trying to do updates for much closer periods of time as well so that I can go into more detail but not as much as Kan)

The spring campaign initially went well with the primarily French army breaking into Austria in Innsbruck and reaching Graz whilst the UK captured Romania and began threatening Hungary. It then pretty much went horribly wrong for the next couple of months. First the Soviets woke up and began advancing into Romania and in all likelihood they are going to be able to push the UK out of Bulgaria and Greece eventually as they will simply be able to field too many troops.

Then the Germans attacked through the Yugoslavian front with troop numbers that were totally unexpected and quickly they had captured half of the country and forced the abandonment of Graz in the North and Belgrade in the south. The only positive of the campaign is that the Italian front seems stable for the time being and no troops were encircled which was the risk if we had tried to hold on to Belgrade.

Given that the troop numbers in Hungary I decided that they must have weakened their defence in the north and thus began an offensive to capture Eindhoven. The city fell and soon after Amsterdam and Ultrecht were also liberated in the first action on the front for over a year. Unfortunately the following attacks on Arnhem and to the north failed so there has been some success but not enough to outweigh the loss of Yugoslavia.



In the war against Japan we have lost Vietnam and the UK has lost Singapore however the Indian border seems pretty secure at the moment and the USA have made a few gains.

I'm not sure what to do next as I'm outnumbered by Germany, whilst the UK is horrendously outnumbered against the Soviets.

Tech wise we've researched the main 1943 aircraft techs and are currently researching 1945 infantry which will hopefully help.

Just remember, don't get caught up in a winter war in Russia

The last French leader who did that ended up in a poor state

if the UK is crushed in Greece then that Russian Army will either swing round and put unbearable pressure on the Italian front or even worse sweep through Turkey, threatening your syrian assets and British oil interests.

In my mind, if Greece falls, you fall. Reinforce the British let them be your buffer.

The simplest things to do is to:
NUKE EM ALL! And I'm talking scorched earth, few Tsar Bombas up their ass see who's laughing now. HAHAAHAHA

but since you can't do that you are in a very tricky situation.
The best thing to do is to secure a defence line around Yugoslavia and Greece, if not possible you have to surrender those countries and reinforce Italy and Africa in case of any invasion. Sit the war out until USA can help you further.

My idea:


The greek front to be stabilized further south where are men can be concentrated more effectively. Likewise, all french troops are to pull out of Northern Yugoslavia and back into Italy along the line shown above, this will concentrate all our men in 3 provinces that can cover the boarder from Italy to the Adriatic.

Then, a slow buildup in men & material over a number of years before breaking out (hopefully with US help). Without another Major ally I cannot see us winning this one. Play it defensively and lobby the US Government for aid & to enter the war.

sheep21 said:

if the UK is crushed in Greece then that Russian Army will either swing round and put unbearable pressure on the Italian front or even worse sweep through Turkey, threatening your syrian assets and British oil interests.

Click to expand...

There is one fortunate thing about the current situation which is that the Soviet Union and the Axis are not allied so as long as Hungary continues owning that central part of Yugoslavia, the Soviets cannot hit the Italian front. Their planes would though.

I'm planning on doing three updates with more details on the troops on each front and the terrain. For instance the three Austrian provinces that we hold are mountain provinces so we should be able to hold them. The first front update will probably be posted later on today.

Note: There are three fronts (Northern, Italian and Greek). We are only likely to ever move troops between the Italian and Greek fronts.

An overview:



White provinces are plains, green are forests, orange are hills.

The highest concentration of troops is currently in Eindhoven as it can be attacked from three German provinces whilst currently Amsterdam has the second highest. Amsterdam can be attacked from the German province to the right however once the troops have regained organisation it will make sense to move them south.

We have recently pushed the Axis forces back and now have a nice defensive bonus of being behind the Meuse (From Reims to Ultrecht). To the south the maginot line has been extended into Reims (pre war) and has held firm. Like with Amsterdam we probably have a few too many troops in Reims although losing the province would be a disaster.

In terms of the Axis position, they also have their own forts (but not as good) opposing the Maginot line and like ourselves benefit from the river bonus to their defence. Dortmund and Liege are hill provinces with Liege also having a former Belgian fort. Our defensive position on the maginot line limits attacks in the south whilst Arnhem in the north is probably the most favourable province we can attack. The drawback of attacking Arnhem is that it would be difficult to defend as the Axis can attack from four directions.

Our armies in the north:



(I've tried to line them up in order based on the geography)

Unfortunately the screenshot doesn't include troops from nations that I've taken military control of so we also have the following:

Ultrecht: 1 infantry from Belgium
Eindhoven: 5 infantry from Belgium
Antwerp: 11 infantry from Belgium, 1 infantry from Rep. Spain
Reims: 6 inf divisions from Belgium, 1 cavalry from Belgium
Metz: 1 inf division from Belgium

Units called Corps d' Armee are French (Some are Belgian as well I believe), Corps are UK and Legerkorps are Dutch.

The numbers to the right indicate the number of divisions and the dots to the left of the pictures indicate the rank of the commander. The UK love their generals to be in the command of single units.

The letters in red mean: A (Armoured Tank), LA (Light Armoured Tank), H (HQ - better org), M (Motorised Infantry) and C (Cavalry)

The highlight for me is that we don't have much else except infantry and that the HQ in Reims is largely wasted so it would make sense to switch it with units in Antwerp or Eindhoven.

my lord, i wish to have a position on your military staff, particularly for ground forces. i have some ideas that i think could have us sipping vodka in moscow quite soon.

I think you need more tanks.

In early 1941, Italy and Repulican Spain joined the war and resulted in a build up of allied troops in Nice and an eventually successful campaign to conquer Italy with two particularly fierce battles to conquer Palermo and Venice. The Italian campaign has led to the troops there being our most experienced and this front has been where most of our new recruits have directed.

In May the Italian front had seen great successes with Yugoslavia joining the war whilst the combined French and Spanish armies pushed towards Venice. Then we suffered the counter blow that led to Yugoslavia being cut in half and dangerously close to being annexed by Hungary. Simply put we were unprepared for the Axis to commit so many troops and have been lucky to hold on to Maribor against regular attacks.

The overview:



The Austrian Alps remain in our possession and provide a nice defensive bonus whilst the provinces to the north have a river border so our chances of holding on to those provinces once captured would be better. Then to the allied troops are attempting to hold the line against the Axis forces. Zagreb and Ljubljana are Yugoslavian key provinces so we really need to hold both provinces to stop Yugoslavia from being annexed.

Our major troop concentration is in the plains of Maribor which the Axis have repeatedly tried to capture. Its also a good province for our troops to hold as potential attacks could be launched against Graz or Bjelovar if the Axis reduced their troop numbers. Currently though the situation is pretty dire and I've been happy to hold ground rather than attempt an advance.

Troop disposition:



As before Corps are UK, Corps d'Armee are French, Cuerpo are Rep Spain and Kraljevska are Yugoslavian.

The first point to make is that this front relies heavily on foreign troops who have a tendency to regain morale slower then French troops and its also worth noting that we are now going to struggle to gain reinforcements for the Yugoslavian units given that they have lost a vast amount of territory.

The second point is that this is currently where our armour is. We have 8 (plus 1 Rep Spain) divisions of advanced medium tanks which are the best we can build. Possibly we should move the UK armoured units from the north to provide a concentrated force to attack with. We do lack a HQ unit in the south which is going to make it tricky to win large scale battles as HQ units provide a bonus to the number of units that can be effectively commanded. We also lack any Generals or Field Marshalls to command the southern front however Republican Spain do have a couple.

We can rely on occasional reinforcements from Spain and the UK may give us control of those divisions idly waiting in Venice.

Finally an update on our allied airforce:

Milan:
4 Tactical Bombers (France - tech IV)
4 Tactical Bombers (France - tech IV)
4 Tactical Bombers (Rep Spain - tech II)
4 Tactical Bombers (Rep Spain - tech II)
4 Interceptors (France - tech IV)
2 Strategic Bombers (Rep Spain - tech I)
2 Tactical Bombers (Rep Spain - tech II)
4 Tactical Bombers (France - tech IV)
4 Close Air Support (France - tech II)
4 Close Air Support (France - tech II)

Auxerre
1 Tactical Bomber (Yugoslavian - tech I)

Lille:
1 Tactical Bomber (Belgium - tech II)
4 Tactical Bomber (Belgium - tech II)
4 Tactical Bomber (Dutch - tech I)
4 Tactical Bomber (Yugoslavian - tech II)
4 Interceptors (France - tech IV)
4 Interceptors (France - tech IV)
2 Tactical Bomber (Yugoslavian - tech II)

(Not including other allied air forces with the UK and US having large air forces)

A quick look at the tech levels shows that our allies have failed to upgrade their planes which reduces their effectiveness although it does at least boost the numbers. Tactical bombers can conduct a range of missions aimed at reducing the effectiveness of supply, organisation or attacking troops directly which is what Close Air Support specialise in. The other two types that we field are relatively self explainatory.

bruce57 said:

my lord, i wish to have a position on your military staff, particularly for ground forces. i have some ideas that i think could have us sipping vodka in moscow quite soon.

Click to expand...

The 5 main military positions available are (although I'm open to other suggestions):

Northern front commander - Overall command of the French and Belgian front
Italian front commander - Overall command of the Italian front

Spanish commander - Responsible for the Republican Spain troops under our command
Benelux commander - Responsible for the Belgian and Dutch troops under our command
Yugoslavian commander - Responsible for the Yugoslavian troops under our command

Then there are likely to be two air force commanders for the bases of Lille and Milan

A Naval commander for the remaining small ships under our command. Our largest fleet is a Spanish fleet consisting of 7 vessels.

Then the usual Research and Industrial positions.

i think i would like command of the italian front.

my lord, i suggest an offensive into southern hungary from the southern part of yugoslavia to assist in the defense of Maribor.
I have just one question: what are our relations like with turkey? they could prove to be a valuable ally if hostilities against russia begin.

I would like to be the Benelux commander, and I will set up my HQ in my beloved city Maastricht.

bruce57 said:

I have just one question: what are our relations like with turkey? they could prove to be a valuable ally if hostilities against russia begin.

Click to expand...

They should be average as I haven't bothered improving them. Its likely that inviting Turkey would have the same consequences as when Yugoslavia joined as I doubt they would have enough troops to stand up to the Soviet armies particularly if the UK forces are pushed back to Greece.

yes, but if we are attacking in two different directions (aka towards stalingrad from greece and into the caucasus from turkey), then the russians would have to split up their troops.

bruce57 said:

yes, but if we are attacking in two different directions (aka towards stalingrad from greece and into the caucasus from turkey), then the russians would have to split up their troops.

Click to expand...

Something tells me you lack any knowledge of this game and Turkey

Turkey is in no way shape or form ready for a war. It is isolationist, weak, and would be steamrolled by the sheer overwhelming numbers of the USSR.

no no no, i dont want turkeys troops. I want military access to their country because it could be used as a launching off point for an invasion of the caucusus