Anschluss or Bust; A GD1938 AAR and Test Game

[Krafty]

Well hi there!

Were going to be starting up another game of GD1938, this time with a test Beta version. My name is Kraftwerk and ive been invited to the development team recently and will be helping out as the Axis in this AAR and test game.

Barring any game stopping bugs this should be a wild ride. Ernie and Bombur toiled through the night these past couple nights and fixed literally hundreds of bugs, completely re-did the Orders of Battle for all nations, adjusted production, supply, you name it, its seen in overhaul in these past few days, these guys have really worked hard.

Im going to be commanding the axis forces and seeing if i can lead them to glory, or at least break the game.



Turn 1:

Jan 10 1938 - German Turn

A committee central european powers agreed to the repartitioning of central europe under the directive of german national socialists. Austria surprisingly marched out of the open forum, and many german nationals were seen protesting in the capital of Vienna.

Newly formed, and illegal, german "scout" divisions, along with Yugoslavian and Rumanian regular army, now under German command, move to the border with Austria in show of gunboat diplomacy. These expatriots will be a part of germany again, or else! Anschluss or bust! Germany must be whole!

A hand was also extended to Mussolini the intellectual father of national socialism, to join the new republic, but Il Duce merely scoffed, and gave an old italian saying "Youre small potatoes, call me when youre serious about this".


Italian Turn:

Much wine was drank. Many a laugh at the pathetic germans was had. Mussolini threw someone out a window. He cried about it. Hes a silly silly man.

The entire political machine grinds to a halt as Mussolini conscripts tens of thousands of men into the engineer corps. Nets must be placed under ever window in Roma.

There was much rejoicing


Japanese turn:

A few gains were made in China, losses were minimal, though in one action in a heavily wooded province of southern china, losses were nearing unacceptable levels as a tenacious general refused to leave his objective untaken whatever the cost.

SNLF Forces begin conceptulization. Rifle II is researched, no one upgraded just yet, as the supply situation needs figuring out. This will allow Marine II to be researched on Turn 2. Then SNLF forces will begin production, then training, for use in operations.

A second and third landing are prepared and sitting in wait for China.





--- No pictures yet, those will come when theres a bit more warring, right now nothing much to show off. Some new art has been added, ill make sure to get those when they appear.

[british exil]

The thread has been in the forum for 1 1/2 hrs and still no pic??

What are you doing in your free time??

No, serious now. Looking forward to your AAR, who are you playing against?

I will subscribe to your thread and follow the dealings with your neighbours and friends.

Mat

[Krafty]

Bombur is the soviet union, Ernie is the allies.

[Bombur]

Worried with German agression, the Baltic countries run back to Mother Russia.
Mongolia also become new Soviet Republic.

[ernieschwitz]

1938, January.

France fears seem to be coming true, Germany is on the rise again. This surely will lead to war. France prepares for the worst as both Italy and Germany appear threatening. Switzerland falling for a Right wing coup orchestrated by Italy doesn´t help the Maginot defend france, and forces are quickly shifted to protect the flank, in a desperate attempt to flank the Germans and Italians diplomatically a covert operation is set in motion. The operation, would ensure that the Austrian government became loyal to france. However the Abwehr must have been tipped off, cause when the Loyal supporters of brotherhood, equality and liberty, were ready they where themselves arrested by a number of counter conspiritors, who under the cover of wanting to save the country from the west, makes it rejoin Germany. The Anschluss happened, and the French government comes off looking bewildered and bruised.

Britain on the other hand is having quite a succes. Not alone did they prevent an italian coup in Greece, that led to the country getting a pro-british government, a successful covert operation in Denmark results in a new democratic government, that longs to come out of the shadow of the German pressure that the country had to endure during the first world war. Norway also found that signing a cooperation and affiliation pact with Great Britain was a most sensible proposal. The diplomatic battle of Scandinavia has begun, and Britain is off to a great head start.

The United states continues it´s peaceful way of life, oblivious to the perils of the world. Nothing happens that is worth reporting. In China, conscripts are fighting for their lives, and little is heard of the desperate struggles, of the common man. Chinese officials report though that a bombing raid against a Japanese division went well, and that at least 20 enemy tanks were destroyed! These metal beasts the chinese have themselves none of.

[british exil]

sitting back watching the scenario developing.

Mat

[Krafty]

Feb 7th 1938 - Germany

No one knew Adolf Hitler secretly laid awake at night, worrying about his gamble in the Anschluss of central europe and the liberation of the germanic people. No one could tell by that mornings speeches that there had ever been any doubt that political pressure must be applied to nations of foriegn peoples, that germanic people would come to his beckon with merely the raise of his fist.

And raise his fist he did. Former SA, now SS and some of Hitlers own right hand men, forming a new organization called the "Gestapo" arrested 13 british, 2 french, and 1 spy from the united states within the parliamentary government of Austria. Hapsburg they are not. With the wool lifted from the eyes of the germanic citizens of Vienna rose up, and "detained" many other members of the democratic government, forcing the rest into exile in Allied nations.

Later that afternoon, fearing for thier lives, the Chechs capitulated to german demands, ceding not only the Sudetenland but the entire nation.

The whole of southern and central Europe belongs to the Third Riech. Perhaps now that sullen bastard Mussolini will realize that the way back to imperial greatness is with alliance with the german people. That the glory of Rome is the glory of Fascism!

A total reorganization of the OKW to include all the new troops of these nations.

Cries of german citizens in Danzig ring out "Macht Fre"..."Macht Fre".



Feb 7th 1938 - Italy

160,000 Italian men heeded Il Duces call to service. Besides the so called "army of engineer corps" the Americans have, the Italians can have pride that they have the largest civil service engineer force in the world.

Wine was drank.

Apparently germany called...we'll get back to them.

What...invite them to the party? Have you ever had to attempt to have fun with a german? FOH GIT ABOUT IT

There was much rejoicing.


Ethiopian forces were moved back to Italy or disbanded. Its to hot.




Feb 7th 1938 - Japan

I think a picture is finally in order.

Japanese forces in China succeed in a 2nd landing south of Hangchow. Japan is now the only nation in history to pull off two successful amphibious landings, without a port, in a row. The world, and the way it wages war. Is changing forever.

Armored units threaten to cut off 175,000 chinese forces in inhospitable terrain. Losses to Cavalry forces are heavy, but the days of the horse are soon coming to an end, and the days of the iron horses are just beginning.

31,000 Chinese soldiers are encircled at Hangchow, a heavy production center.

These two encirclements can go a long way to making China a short conflict.

[Krafty]

As you can see as Japan, last turn I used all 3600 fuel but 7, this turn I used only exactly 3000.

Japan has serious fuel problems, but good management and limited offensives with good short term goals, you can do some damage in China before it becomes a stalemate, and armor, and thereby fuel, is needed. Which of course will bring you into conflict with someone very quickly, as there are a few lightly defended oil wells around, and those people who own them, have much bigger problems to deal with.

If you attempt to much, you can leave yourself not being able to move critical units and offensives stalling out with the front actually lengthened thinning out your forces to the point the chinese might actually succeed in a counter attack.


edit:

Also with using all the fuel last turn but 7, I left myself nothing to intercept chinese aircraft with. Its possible I would not have intercepted anyways. But this time I have a decent sized reserve to punish and foolish chinese bi planes from strafing my troops, trucks, or dropping fire bombs on my tanks.

The 20 lost tanks hurts. Many of those were highly trained crews.

[Krafty]

For any readers, the strategy im employing in china is limited frontage, and the rotation of forces back from the line the recuperate and receive already trained replacements.

The offensives I have mounted are aimed at reducing my frontage by 13 hexes (the offensive adding 4) for a total of 9 less hexes I have to station units in, being that there are generally 2 divisions in each hex, thats 18 divisions ill free up for other operations than sitting around providing flank security so the chinese forces dont attempt any manuevering of their own.

The next operation, which will be codenamed Falling Rain, which will occur if time tables are met, in the summer, should again reduce my frontage by 4 more hexes, leaving only 14 hexes across china as frontage. Easily manned by half the forces I currently am using. Then forces can either be disbanded, or taken back to japan and upgraded, retrained and sent elsewhere to secure the resources to finish the war with china without a total japanese bloodbath.

[Bombur]

Soviet turn: Nothing to report. The Soviet Union is following a policy of non intervention after the annexation of Baltic States.
Trotsky, from exile, wrote an article criticizing the policy of neutrality followed by USSR. According to him, the USSR is inviting fascist agression by ignoring the German threat...is he right?

[Krafty]

As an act of friendship, Il Duce sends a dove, dyed red, carrying the telephone # for a one, Ramon Perez (Mercader) to Stalins vacation Dacha on the Volga.

He is said the be quite the assassin, no one ever survives a blow from his weapon of choice...which is why they call him. The Ice Pick.

Perhaps he can handle your Trotsky problem.

[ernieschwitz]

Febuary 1938,

France is increasingly getting paranoid. The recent takeover of Czechoslovakia hasn´t helped matters. France thought it had a strong ally in them. Instead French intelligence tries to manipulate members of the Hungarian government, to join up with France, but this fails too. Who can blame them with the amount of power that is radiating from Germany. That power has made Belgium scared though, and they join the French, who immediately move forces to the German-Belgian border. The Belgian Navy sails for London, where it is many merchants are incorperated in the merchant fleet. The Danish merchant ships soon follow and dock in London as well.

There has been alot of movements by single German ships in the seas around France and Great Britain could this be a prelude to war?

Speaking of Britain. They convinced the Poles that it would be wise to join the Allied cause. This no doubt had something to do with the fact that there are massive concentrations of German troops at their borders. A crisis plan is drawn up, and troops are moved to better be prepared for the hopefully not eventual onslaught.

The CIA has been busy this month. Not only did they orchestrate a succesfull coup in Ecuador, they orchestrated succesful coups in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. All these countries join the common cause, to stay out of the war that is brewing in Europe, unless they absolutely have to choose a side. A single coup, in Guatemala, however ended in a German puppet government. Roosevelt is alittle concerned. Also Cuba decided to join the United States of America.

In China, things looked bleak. A breakout would be necessary from Hangchow, unless the troops were to starve and become unable to fight. A cunning plan was drawn up, a seemingly strong japanese concentration of troops, outside Hangchow had taken up positions. The japanese felt themselves very confident. They had even moved their entire Army Artillery to these positions. An assault would most likely fail, the japanese felt. And why would they worry, this was only Chinese conscripts they where facing...

At dawn a buggle sounded, and the entire 37.000 encircled men of the besieged in Hangchow, charged the stunned japanese position. They where supported by troops attacking the Japanese from the rear. It quickly turned into a rout, and most of the Japanese artillery was mauled, and destroyed, while the 2 divisions guarding the position were almost destroyed.

The cost however is probably that Hangchow is lost. As the troops are unable to hold it in the long run, and most have moved away, to try and rejoin the Chinese frontlines. Still it was a great victory... the first of many perhaps.

Here is a screenshot showing where the action was.

[ernieschwitz]

(continued)

In the north of China, the Japanese attacks are sought to be stopped by throwing massive amounts of conscripts at them. Also troops are moving south to Yenan from Kweisui, that is threatened by Japanese attempts to cut it off from supply. Attacks are made with old 75mm guns and not quite modern aircrafts on strategic positions of the Japanese... but losses are not as high as expected. In one case 20 fighter Is were shot down by simple machinegun fire, from the Heavy Japanese Machine Guns. Although witnesses to the events claim that some of the downed aircraft were more due to neglect and malfunctioning and pilot error, to actual gun fire. Still that is alot of lost planes.

All in all, it was a good turn for the Chinese.

For those keeping count: Kraftwerk lost 6 Artillery IIs out of 9 that the Army near Shanghai starts out with!

[Krafty]

March 7 1938 - Germany

Reorganization of the Wehrmacht is complete. Poland falls to an allied coup, but they were always a puppet of the allies.

Many nations fear germanys might and have signed on with the allies. In discussion round tables, Feldmarshals consider if the allies have stacked to many claims. Many times was the phrase "To defend everything, is to defend nothing" was heard echoing the same prussian halls that once boomed Karl von Clauswitz's voice as his and napoleons armies marched victoriously across Europe.

News that a right wing fascist coup has been successful in throwing off the chains of "democracy" somewhere in central america intrigues many in the OKW.


March 7th 1938 - Italy

A party is held in Madrid, where much was discussed between the father of fascism and his favorite apprentice.

Much wine was consumed.

Many jokes were made of the germans.

Italian ships report there are no french garrisons in its coastal cities. Drunk, but armed, Italian sailors load up to make a surprise visit, but upon sobering up discovered that the cities were indeed manned.

Ethiopia is successfully evacuated. Talks of giving the territory to Franco was circulated in the tabloids.



March 7th 1938 - Japan


It was a costly month for the imperial japanese army, but gains were made. The trapped Chinese army made a desperate attempt to rescue its forces. 10,000 men were lost attempting to flee the pocket by any means, but in an astonishing turn of events, enemy saboteurs were able to destroy or disable many japanese artillery pieces as they made their early morning infiltration through enemy lines.

The pocket was reclosed later in the afternoon, but not before almost 10,000 men made it out alive. Early the next morning, Hangchow was captured and its production centers turned over the imperial consolt for the province. Little over 8,000 men still remained, most were captured, many simply returned to their lives as workers, blending into the large population.

It was bittersweet news to the battered 67th Imperial Infantry Division, whose forces were over run the night before. Beaten and weary, the survivors are loaded onto transports for R&R back home in Japan. Its rumored this heroic division will be the first to receive elite SNLF units, and will be included in operation Falling Rain. The division has earned its new moniker, 67th IID "Seizon Sha" or simply, The Survivors.

All in all the operation was a success, 7,000 japanese soldiers lost their lives, 80 heavy artillery pieces were lost for good. Its a shame the pocket net only 60% of its original containment but not having to fight a costly urban battle in which many more divisions than the 67th would have been battered for months was a blessing. A large production center, capable of supply a good number of Japanese troops is now in imperial hands, and the troops are still ready for perhaps another short operation before Falling Rain.

Upwards of 30,000 Chinese soldiers lost thier lives in the battles and actions surrounding the operation, and many more divisions were rendered moot. Still, nearly a million men face off against the imperials.


In the north, the hammer pushes chinese units towards the anvil, south of the anvil, at the cost of many Japanese lives, night infiltration assaults are launched against all chinese positions. The brutal hand to hand combat by the light of flares and artillery fire, cost the Japanese dearly, exhausting 5th army. Over 300 sq km of chinese farmland falls into Japanese hands, and the Chinese army is pushed back and pressed away from the anvil.

Two japanese armored divisions sit poised to exploit any weaknesses left after the Chinese reorganize.

This hopefully presents a critical choice for China. Abandon the troops who are trapped (tho still own the rail line out, cleared the troops off of it, effectively cutting that entire army corps off from its southern friends, but wasnt able to move in and occupy the hex, I think due to Zone of Control.

Or, hopefully, spread out the fresh divisions to cover the advance in an attempt to save their brethren. Then the armor and Korean reinforcements can gain a bit more ground and seal the pocket, before the imperial army must rest and prepare for the next campaign season.

No pictures or battle plans sadly, dont want my opponent to get any hints as to what may come next




Suffice to say in this version, china is not a push over, it will be a long slow slog against the chinese hordes. And it will surely attrite the japanese army and if they cant wrap it up, or find a reasonable stalemate in which they can stop focusing on the area, cause the same inevitable conclusion as the real war.

I personally underestimated the attacking strength of close to 40,000 Chinese attacking a unit that took a readiness hit, and wasnt entrenched. I figured to kill many more than I did. 52 was a shy bit lower than my expectation i must admit. But 10,000 dead chinese is 10,000 dead chinese.

So far I think its around 30k dead Japanese to 100k dead Chinese. Not a great ratio. Tho many of the casualties were recent in the infantry offensive. Hope to increase the number of dead chinese by quite a bit in the next turn.

Total japanese casualties in china were around 500,000 from 1937-1945. We'll assume we've already lost 10-15k in the landings and push through Mengchuko. So 45k already is not super great. I have 9 months to go in this year!

[Krafty]

For those who like the numbers, I destroyed 212 chinese conscripts this turn, about 43,000 men. Lost 53 Rifle Is, about 10,000 men.

This isnt including machine gun bats, mortar bats, or other support, that easily include another 4-7,000 men on each side.

Not terrible, but not great. What is good, is that other than the 67th and its support, losses have been pretty even across the front, this means when replacements are added in the spring, it wont hurt xp to much.

[ernieschwitz]

March 1938, Allied report

France is still paranoid... and spotting the German Fleet along with Transports filled with troops near Le Havre did not make matters better. Troops are being moved to counter what would be a German surprise landing, but it is highly doubtfull that these troops are meant for France, at least the British security services are reporting that their destination is most likely Gibraltar, or perhaps Ireland...

To make the French feel more at ease, the Channel Fleet has been ordered to shadow the German Kriegsmarine. In foreign news, Turkey joins Germany, as the British make an ill conceived attempt at overthrowing the government. This is going to be bad news for everybody, save Germany, even Italy may feel that it should have gotten Turkey...

The CIA has done it again. A succesfull coup in the Dominican Republic. All the smaller countries of middle america seem to want to be friends with the Great United States of America.

In China, the current ferrosity of the Japanese attacks have taken the chinese aback. Troops are rushed to sensitive areas, and armies are reinforced the best possible. Kweisui seems almost lost to some of the more defeatist generals of the Chinese Army. However a very good counter attack made by units of several armies, against the Japanese armored spearhead succeeded. The battle was tough, but in the end, the Chinese prevailed. Also a division near Tsingtao was bombed to such a degree that it tempted the chinese into an offensive. The results were ok, but nothing more... Chinese troops refrained from following up...

Here is a view of what is happening in China...

[ernieschwitz]

I also thought it would be enlightening to see the actual combat losses on each side, both for this turn, and for the war (from 1938 january) to this point...

Here is a screenshot

[ernieschwitz]

The total output of china (unoccupied) is around 30k production points. And a conscript costs 100 of those. So in essence I can take losses of around 200 conscripts each turn, without it being a major disaster... So while losses at present are high, I expect them to be lower, soon, as the Japanese warmachine, litterally runs out of gas.

Frankly i think it already is running out of gas, as it´s tanks fell rather easily to the attacking conscripts. Possibly Kraftwerk is not keeping enough fuel for defence... which is rather good news for me.

[Krafty]

April 4th 1938 - Germany

The addition of turkey into the germanic national socialist leauge is an interesting development.

Bulgaria is annexed to provide a supply route to Turkey. This came as little surprise to anyone. Hungary is still an "independent nation" but the newly elected government are all known nazi puppets.

The failure to shake Royal Navy tails in the Channel forced the german taskforce to return to Kiel.




April 4th 1938 - Italy

Everyone is at brunch.

There was much rejoicing.





April 4th 1938 - Japan

In the north, massive chinese counter attacks push defenders out of newly created fighting positions almost before theyre completed. A bloody month long struggle ended in dead on many sides.

Finally a plan was devised to push the chinese back, and not fortify the area, but simply fade back to previous positions and see if the the chinese would reenter the area, now stripped of any sort of trenches or defensive structures, and sure enough they did. Heavy japanese counter attacks destroy 185 conscripts, 16 Mortar brigades, and a handfull of other units. This time japanese losses were light. Well timed attacks against infantry that was still scratching its head as to why there was no enemy to fight that morning.

The front is moved forward in the north, and entrenchments are destroyed and chinese sent running in the south.



5th army, exhausted from the fighting, is pulled from the front for R&R. 1st Army fresh from Japan moves up to take its place, as well as Korean nationals and their army of korea.

The IJN makes heavy air attacks in the north, and the division that routed the 43rd IID, is punished by bombardment and shelling.


Many new ****8sfasd8f88**8f8d8* *

*radio broadcast cuts off abruptley replaced with a recording, stating further information censored by the Imperial Government with concerns to upcoming military operations*

[ernieschwitz]

Intermezzo 1938.

While we are all waiting for the most recent developements, I thought that perhaps it would be prudent to show you a few of the games units. So here is what the starting divisions of Japan and China look like. Notice how the Japanese Divisions are packed with all forms of goodies, while the Chinese basically consist of 1 SFT type, in large numbers, and just a few Battalions to back it up.

In real life Japanese divisions were about 4 times the size of Chinese divisions, but we have chosen to represent divisions differently in this game.

Here is an overview.