Rocoteh,
Update on Ver 1.7 Britain SID
Week 51, 1942
Completed the conquest of Manchuria and sent a smmal force to capture Yakutsk and Dzhyusal in order to cut off far-eastern Siberia from the rest of Russia.
Then turned to attack northwest into central Asia. My intermediate obective here was to seize the 3 uranium depsoits in Central Asia and deny them to the USSR and Germany. The only other uranium deposit available to Germany is in Norway (I think), whiich is easily covered by bombing.
The Central Asian offensive went well with British forces capturing Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Vorogovo, and Novosibirsk.
Simultaneous attacks captured Urumtsi and Kasgar from the Germans and Tashkent, Lepsinsk, and ALma Ata from the Russians.
After a brief pause to regroup the offensive continued to take Turkestan, Aralsk, Magniotogorsk, Aktavskoe, Kuybyshev, Chelyabinsk, and Sverdlovsk. Attacks were captured in rapid sequence in order to prevent the Russians from regrouping or the Germans from moving in.
These offensives have resulted in separate British forces converging on each other and forming a very powerful force in central Russia ready to complete the conquest of Russia and take on Germany. Plus with Germany denied access to uranium ( I think) I don't have to worry about them getting nukes.
The conquest of China, Manchuria and Centrral Asia also add considerably to British production capacity, which is now working overtime.
The Red Army is pretty well destroyed, so taking the remaining Soviet cities should not be hard.
Germany is still strong: 17 Pz Grenadier Divs, 49 Stug III Divs, 21 SS Panzer Divs, 17 SS Inf Divs, 94 FW 190's. 143 Me 262, 12 ME 109, 63 He 219, 1 He 177, 32 Flak, 35 Infantry, 1 Hindenburg, 3 VII U-boats, 1 IX U-boat, 6 DDF, 26 Garrison.
Against this the British have:
32 Marine Divs, 27 paratroop Divs, 113 Inf Divs, 22 Anzac Divs, 92 HMG Divs, 188 Armored Divs (Comet, Chruchill, Cromwell Crusader, Matilda), 52 Mobile Artillery Divs, 3 Heavy artillery, 11 Artillery, 65 Flak, 346 Spitfires, 4 Hurricanes 15 Skua, 10 Bristol, 4 Halifax, 3 Mosquito, 29 Typhoon, 162 Lancasters, 3 BB, 2 Battlecruisers, 6 CV, 4 CA, 18 LC, 33 King George V BB's, 17 subs, 11 transport.
Although Germany still has th enominal advantage of internal lines of communication, this is now offset by several British advantages. with British control of the sea secured by 33 KG V BB's, Germany has a long coastline to protect from a respectably strong force of Royal Marines. Coastal improvements are aslo subject to strong naval bombardment.
With the conquest of Central Asia and the eviction of Japanese forces from the Asian continent, Britain has now only one land front on which it can cencentrate all its ground and air forces. Only minimal garrisons are required elswhere since Germany cannot get any transports to sea. Japan is no threat, and US forces have even occupied one of the cites on the Japanese main island.
The main German obstacle is it's huge fighter force, 143 ME 262's, and 63 He 219's. Against these are 346 Spitfires, with more on the way. However, I would rather have Germany building fighters than SS Panzer Divisions.
Although Bob1475 urged me not to go after before Germany, I felt I should take the opportunity which presented itself. Being able to destroy the bulk of the REd Army in Manchura/Siberia was also a stoke of luck. Although the battle against Germany has been deferred I believe the conomic advantage that Britain has accrued more than compensates. And up until now I am not sure Britain has had the combat power to go after Germany while it still had to keep forces facing Japan and Russia..
Grizx