The Crimson Flag - HoI2 Armageddon AAR

[Serutan]

"I told you so!" squeaked Serutan.

And did you listen to me? NOOOO!!!!

Cool beans, the UK is coming in to save our imperialistic butts.

I say we finish taking over Bulgaria, then annex it! What's Germany going to do, its navy is pitiful and it has to move through a bunch of countries first.

You're assuming that none of those countries ally with Germany. If they don't ally then it's true there's not a lot Germany can do at present.

[Squeak mode] I personally wouldn't want to be the farm on that. And just because the Sovs haven't declared war yet doesn't mean they won't. Especially after the belligerence hit from annexing Bulgaria. [/Squeak mode]

Well, we're well an truly committed now. If the Bulgarians offer terms ceding a few
provinces, AND the Soviets have not declared war, I would suggest taking them.
Otherwise annex. Either way, try a white peace out on the Germans after cessation
of hostilities with Bulgaria.

 

[potatokiosk]

Germany doesn't affect us as long as Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland remain neutral. They can't reach us by land, and since the British are at war with them they can't reach us by sea either. After Bulgaria we only need to invade Yugoslavia and Greece to finish our European national provinces.

So let's look at the Guarantees of independence:
Yugoslavia- France, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Romania
Greece- UK, Italy, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Romania

Now, our guarantees don't matter, and neither do Germany's as we're already at war, and since we want to be at war with both Greece and Yugoslavia we don't have to care about their guarantees. So we only have:
Yugoslavia- France, Romania
Greece- UK, Italy, Romania

Based on this information, I suggest that we pursue a non-aggression pact with Romania and join the allies. This only leaves Italy as a threat, and the allies can defeat Italy, providing us with an opportunity to take back Libya.

This is assuming the Soviet Union doesn't declare war on Germany, because that could cause other countries to join the Axis, screwing everything up.

 

[Serutan]

Even if they stay neutral, they might (except Poland) grant military access, which for us would be
just as bad.

 

[Maniacal]

The UK will be VERY protective of Greece. I fear they may declare war on us to protect Greece.

 

[Serutan]

The UK will be VERY protective of Greece. I fear they may declare war on us to protect Greece.

Especially now that they are at war anyway.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Joining the allies should give us a free hand in Greece, though we will have to bide our time before taking our Middle East provinces.

Ideally I would like to have southern Romania under our control as well - think of the oil!

 

[IronMan2055]

Oh and since you don't appear to have any admirals, I'm interested in being one.

Good, now get me some damned stuffed Olive Leaves, Waring is hard work.

 

[ComradeDavo]

Wow I haven't seen that event before. Is that something Turkey gets in every normal game? Or is it modded? Or do they have to human controlled to get it?

 

[Metromonkey]

He modded it in to make a game as Turkey more interesting for the AAR.

 

[ComradeDavo]

He modded it in to make a game as Turkey more interesting for the AAR.

Ah cool thanks for the answer!

 

[Tee Kay]

Here are the Balkan Guarantees.

The main problem we have now is the risk of Soviet intervention on the Bulgarian side. Hopefully the Soviets back us instead of the Bulgarians, but in the case of a Soviet intervention, Anatolia will be lost. If that happens the best thing to do IMO is to annex Bulgaria as quickly as possible (remember their provinces are our cores) and then hold off the Soviets in Istanbul.

Joining the Allies would give us a free hand over Yugoslavia, Greece AND Romania, possible Italian intervention notwithstanding. And there's a chance Italy might declare on Germany, given the Italian guarantee of us. (Actually Yugo and Romania might join in the fun as well, in which case we just take Greece). I haven't seen the AI kick a nation out of an alliance before, so the British won't be able to stop us.

The Mid East is not a high priority at the moment (low IC). Once the British GoI for Persia expires we can take Iran (there's a huge oil field in Abadan). If we want the rest of the Mid East then we can always the Allies later.

I'll fire up the game tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

[Serutan]

Are our relations with Britain good enough to have a realistic chance to join?

 

[Maniacal]

Yes, in the light of recent developements we must join the allies, for protection, and we can always backstab them later, but in the mean time it will work out fine I do believe.

Unless the USSR attacks us. The we're pretty much screwed.

 

[Dell19]

If we do join the allies before the Soviets declare war then there is always a risk that they will later declare war on the UK. The best case scenario I had in a non historical early Balkan war was that the axis, Soviets and Allies all ended up at war with each other. I only joined the war on the side of the Allies once Germany was annexed and I was prepared for a push into Russia.

 

[Tee Kay]

Update 5
Bandwagon!​

"I am absolutely against destabilization of the Balkan peninsula."
- Boris Tadic

Plovdiv, Bulgaria
May 4, 1937

So here we are, finally, on so-called "Bulgarian" soil. But we cannot enjoy the fruits of victory just yet, fellow flame warriors. Victory itself has yet to be attained, and it looks like there will be no rest for the winner any time soon. Let us reflect on this very busy fortnight.

. . .

April 20, and a Soviet declaration of war (quickly followed by the end of the Republic of Turkey) seemed imminent. Some in the CivFanatics Porte even considered renaming themselves the "Council of Doom" - Turkey's doom. For the Porte, it means having to go through the trouble of reloading the game and since this is the generation that grew up with the Internet, they couldn't be bothered.[/old guy's rant]

Panic - on the intensity not to be seen until the the Swine Flu incident seventy-two years later - prevailed in the Porte and on the streets of Izmir, Izmit, Istanbul and Ankara. Then, two days later, came the Soviet DoW...

... against Germany. The Soviets decided to tolerate an ambitious, warmongering and unstable regime on its border and instead made war on a nation that was trying to protect the independence of a little nation that was attacked. Go figure.

Unfortunately, our good Balkan neighbours saw the Soviets massing their divisions on their western border and so decided that the best cause of action is to pre-emptively accelerate their own demise adopt a hostile position to safeguard their corrupt, exploitative rule nation's sovereignty. One by one they declare war on the Soviet Union, and start breaking their Non-Aggression Pacts with the nation which in their view created this whole problem. Yep, that's us.

For all we know their generals are planning a joint assault on Turkey and their diplomats are in Berlin right now trying to kiss up to the Nazis and try to get into an alliance with Germany. Only Romania have succeeded so far, created what the Western media have dubbed the "Berlin-Bucharest Axis". Why a social liberal government chose to ally with a far-right totalitarian dictator we would never know. In any case, we are now at war with Romania, and will likely be at war with the rest of the Balkans soon.

On the battlefield, the Bulgarian army put up a tough resistance but generally everything is going well. At the end of April the Turkish army in Istanbul marched into Varna, with the army in Plovdiv supporting from the west.

With Varna taken, only the capital of Sofia needs to fall before the Bulgarian government collapses.

And on May 3, 1937, the glorious Turkish Army engaged the Bulgarians outside Sofia. In a hard-fought battle, Turkey emerged victorious. It will take another week before the bulk of the army arrives to occupy the capital, but at last Sofia is within reach.

Now, gentleman, we must look north and west. Yugoslavia and Greece posed a real threat to us now, but Romania is our immediate concern. It seems that the bulk of the Romanian army is fighting the Soviets in the north. This may give us a chance to take their capital and key provinces, and forcing a capitulation. But we must not underestimate our enemies. Even if we don't have to deal with the Yugoslavs and Greeks, the Romanians still outnumber and outproduce us.

For a clearer idea of the current state of what we will now call II. Dünya Savaşı (Second World War), here are the diplomatic maps of Europe...

 

[Maniacal]

I think we should attack Greece, what are our defenses in Albania?

However, if we can get Romania to capitulate quickly, that would be beneficial in the long run.

 

[Serutan]

I think Romania should be first on the menu. Although they do outproduce us, etc, they also
have the Red Army to keep them entertained whilst we inadvertently leave cutlery betwixt their
vertebrae. Not to mention that (oil bearing) Romanian territory will in any event be easier to take from the
Romanians than the Soviets.

 

[Tee Kay]

I think we should attack Greece, what are our defenses in Albania?

None. All units are in Bulgaria pwning teh noobs. If Yugo or Greece decides to declare Albania will be lost. (It's just 4 IC though, and considering we get 20+ from capturing Bulgaria...).

We will only need to take three Greek provinces IIRC to annex - Salonika, Athens, and one on the Albanian border IIRC. Yugoslavia will be a much tougher fight, especially if we are at war with another country. Best we can do with our current strength is dig in in the mountainous provinces and see how things play out.

However, if we can get Romania to capitulate quickly, that would be beneficial in the long run.

All but one of Romania's VPs are easily within our reach. The last VP is in Transylvania unfortunately. Hopefully the Romanians will think the Soviets are a bigger threat.

Not to mention that (oil bearing) Romanian territory will in any event be easier to take from the
Romanians than the Soviets.

Thing is Romania is not core for us (you can thank Mirc for this ). Once annexed the sensible thing to do is to puppet it.

 

[Serutan]

Yes, if it's not core definitely puppet. We can't afford keeping permanenet garrisons about for the forseeable future. And puppeting would have the advantage of lowering our belligerence.

The other downside of Yugoslavia is that even if successful it would give us an elongated
front to protect, and also bring us uncomfortably close to the Germans...

 

[Maniacal]

I definately think we should take out Greece next then. Depending who DoWs on us.

EDIT: Or perhaps Romania, as they would make a good buffer.