The Second Front: Scandanavia

[lordhadri]

Here's a counterfactual scenario for you: Before the occupation of France, Allied military planners were considering an invasion of Norway and Sweden to protect Scandanavia's iron reserves from falling into German hands.

If they had actually done this there could have been a second front as early as 1940, one where Germany had the initiative. It would have allowed Commonwealth and French troops to stage closer to Berlin, fight on different terrain than France, and work more closely with their Soviet Allies; not necessarily more favorable, if you ask me, than the eventual invasion of Normandy. Imagine if the Nordic countries were not known as a land of peaceful social democrats but the bloody graveyard of Hitler's ambition.

I thought I'd try to simulate this in RTW just to see what would happen. For now I only have the really unbalanced version that came with the Steam version of BTS. And I'm also not very good at RTW at all.

Here's how it went:

Spoiler :

I played as the US in historical mode and observed a really strange game compared to the more accurate-ish games that happen when I've played as Germany or USSR. The Germans and Soviets reached stalemate in Poland immediately, with Germany only getting as far as Pinsk by 1943. France fought to the death on the continent, only switching sides in 1943 for some reason. German paratroopers invaded Ireland, devastating the British army and later capturing Edinburgh and Liverpool.

Eventually, I invaded Denmark in summer '43, giving Copenhagen back to King Haakon VII in the hopes that he would land his considerable armies to fight alongside me. (but he only sent a few tank destroyers.) My stack made it into Kiel before being eliminated. Copenhagen held out until October when it was taken by Italian infantry.

The brave American boys were betrayed by inferior firepower, inferior technology, inferior numbers and a Navy depleted by the Kriegsmarine. But most of all they lost because Germany had already chosen the second front: the hills and fields of England and Scotland. I might go back a few saves because I think I can still save poor Churchill at high cost.

Denmark proved to be a poor candidate for theatre of war. (As Germany, America seems to prefer landing there to Normandy.) I probably could have waited until 1944 if I thought Britain would last that long and I would have spent it building Battleships to fight the Kriegsmarine anyway.

I was wondering if it's possible, perhaps using hotseat mode in a newer version of BTS, to lure AI Germany willingly into a broad front in Scandanavia. One thing I kind of want to try is invading Norway and Sweden in open play and using their cities to raise an army against Germany next, but approaching from the north!

And I was also wondering if anyone around here has tried this before. Do later versions correctly have Norway capitulating to the Germans? It frustrates me that they have a better army than the USA and the UK and remain in a defensive pact with them the entire game.

 

[kiwitt]

In my version of RTW - Historical, I already have an Allied base of operations in Norway (see - Wikipedia for details). While small it could be used as a base of operations.

 

[Raven Destroyer]

The US is probably one of the few countries i never attacked as my game just crashes corrupting my save and all that kind of nonsense Before i actualy get enough power to strike them down

currently i switched from the original RTW to the historical version by kiwitt i managed to pursue the polish to hand me over their exile city poor polish and dutch idiots they aught to know the Reich will not stop their conquest

(btw i am dutch irl)

 

[kiwitt]

(btw i am dutch irl)

Me too ! ... even did a my time in the Dutch Airforce at Gilse-Rijen (near Breda), in the mid-1980's.

 

[Raven Destroyer]

To young to do service not that i want to

so you are a dutch kiwi
why i have now the picture that bird with a gulden as a torso?

I admit i loved it when i just rolled over the dutch in my current game one bloody mistake and groningen survived the blitzkrieg just falling the next turn else it was a 1 turn crush

 

[kiwitt]

A key tactic I used on the Dutch front was to use infantry for the initial attacks and then use tanks to attack later, as they can then move over the conquered domain faster.