During the spring and summer of 1943, the primary focus of my efforts revolves around one word: manpower. This is the main advantage of an early conquest of China. While every other nation in the world is robbing the cradle and the grave to put warm bodies on the frontline, I still have over 4000 manpower points (about four million men) happily wandering around undrafted. If I do manage to completely overrun the planet, it will be due largely to this bottomless pit of manpower.
The German-Soviet Front
It has been awhile since I have mentioned the ongoing war between the Germans and the Soviets. The simple reason for this is the fact that nothing of significance has occurred in well over a year. The border has remained largely static, shifting by a few provinces here and there, but still running roughly from the Ukranian-Romanian border north to Leningrad. The armies themselves, however, have apparently been quite busy. My spies indicate that Germany has bottomed out on their manpower reserve, ranging from 0 to 20 points most of the year. Even the Soviets, who I expected to maintain a comparatively large reserve, are now hovering between 20 and 100 points. Late in the summer, the effects of this imbalance begin to show, as the Soviets begin to steadily gain provinces, especially in the south. Thus far, the gains have been small, but a complete collapse of the Axis forces could occur within a few months.
A Different Kind of Hollywood Bomb
I initially had modest expectations for my bombing campaigns in Southern California. These raids, beginning in late 1942, seemed likely to deplete the American manpower reserve somewhat, but early anti-aircraft fire and fighter coverage indicated my planes were as likely to spend as much time in the hangars as in the air. In order to keep the pressure up, I eventually deployed three carrier fleets to the area, and used their CAGs to fill in while the tactical bombers were recouping. While these bombers were obviously less effective, they were more resilient; consequently, the enemy AA units and fighter squadrons began to wear down, and the tactical bombers were able to stay aloft longer. By the end of summer the bombers are spending 25 days a month in the air. The CAGs, on the northern and eastern sections of the target area are more likely to see action with enemy fighters, but are still performing missions around 15 days a month.
These raids, cumulatively, have had a significant effect. By the end of summer our spies report American manpower down to 50 points or less. They still have full control over the bulk of their population, meaning they’re still getting a fair amount of reinforcements. Even so, their low manpower shows we are dealing more damage than they can keep up with, which is a great sign. A few more months of bombing will lead to units being pulled permanently off the front lines; once we begin the land war in earnest, the Americans are likely to collapse quickly, or at least as easily as the Brits.
The Conquest of Iberia
The main event of the middle of 1943 is the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). As with Britain, I’ve carried out this invasion many times before from different angles. Unlike Britain, I don’t really have it down pat. The infrastructure is generally low (for Europe), and the terrain is almost random, with mountain chains, hills, forests and plains intermingled throughout the peninsula. Spain has an extremely high national unity, requiring attackers to take every victory point, including the hard-to-reach Madrid. Portugal is arguably worse; inexplicably they refuse to surrender unless you conquer most of their African colonies as well as their mainland.
One of the most interesting things about a conquest of Iberia is that it highlights the value of infantry. I have hit the peninsula using large (250-500k man) armies, made of well equipped combined arms divisions, only to have the invasion bog down to a crawl due to supply shortages. This invasion in particular demonstrates the less-is-more concept; using only four corps (less than 200k men), with no armor, I had no supply problems, and combat was still fairly light.
The Iberia Invasion Plan, like most of my plans, is short on details, and leaves a lot of room for ad hoc maneuvers. It has two phases: Portugal, and Spain. The conquest of mainland Portugal is not expected to be difficult, or even worthy of any particular attention. IX and VI Gun will lead the attack by deploying in the provinces neighboring Lisboa; with the capital surrounded, they will attack and overrun it, securing supplies and a significant port. VI Gun will turn south and occupy the southern half of the country, while IX Gun turns north and moves up the coastline to Porto. VII Gun will be quickly shipped in to align on IX Gun’s right, and sweep up the Spanish border. Portugal will not surrender from the occupation of their mainland, but we will establish a safe base of operations.
Phase Two will involve the three Gun from Phase One, as well as VIII Gun, shipped in from Australia. IX Gun will continue northward along the coast, then turn eastward toward Bilbao and the French border. VII Gun will aim for Madrid, and then move towards either Barcelona or Valencia, as needed. VIII Gun will proceed in a vague eastward line, likely aiming for Murcia and Valencia. VI Gun will be responsible for the southern coastline, primarily Seville, Cadiz and Malaga.
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| The plan for my Iberian conquest. |
The operation kicks off with the declaration of war against Portugal on April 5th. The landing is accomplished within two days, and the attack is launched against Lisboa. This battle is one of the largest of the campaign, which indicates the ease of conquest. We suffer only 337 killed; the Portuguese suffer 1,782, and lose another 10,000 captured. After this battle, only a few Portuguese divisions remain in existence, and they are able to slow my forces by only a few hours, and surrender around Porto within a month or so.
My troops get to enjoy a bit of downtime while awaiting the arrival and deployment of VIII Gun. The Spaniards, until my conquest of Portugal, had the bulk of their army deployed on the French border. Once our troops begin to arrive at their kick-off points, though, the Spanish army began moving en masse to guard against them. They had managed to get most of their army in place along the border before VIII Gun arrived on June 21st. It was a credible, although completely futile, movement.
The war opened on the 22nd; the Spanish forces, while not mobilized, were able to put forth a few days of fighting along various spots on the border. This, however, was the extent of the Spanish opposition. Those units which fought the hardest along the front were encircled and destroyed; those that retreated quickly were overrun within a few weeks. My advance was highly uneven, due to Spanish defense, terrain quirks, and irregular routes of march. This caused a few problems, in particular near Madrid. Since this city was a major focal point of the offensive, I decided to stall a bit here to mop up loose ends. IX and VIII Gun cut off and destroyed a few pesky divisions that attempted to get behind the offensive, while VII Gun itself encircled the city and forced the surrender of its defenders. The city fell on August 2nd.
Normally, the AI will do everything they can to slow my advance. Even when hopelessly outmatched, they will attempt to fight just to stall, by imposing post-battle confusion; failing that, they will frequently try to outflank the attackers, in order to force us to turn around and deal with them. These tactics rarely do much good, but are annoying. With no supplies, though, even these tactics are impossible. The capture of Madrid, and the nation’s supply depot, brings an end to all resistance. The remaining Spanish forces begin a headlong flight to the French border. This does little good; they are prohibited from entering German-occupied France, and the remaining unoccupied areas of Spain are insufficient to provide supplies or reinforcements. Even so, it takes another two months to plod through the rough terrain. Barcelona is finally captured without a fight on October 5th; the government and remaining forces surrender the next day.
Because my war declaration prompted Spain to join the Allies, their off-shore colonies continued a show of resistance. Troops were sent to occupy the Baleares in mid October, and North Africa in the end of the month. The finale of the campaign occurs as we enter Tangiers on the 31st. This gives me credit for the Gibraltar game objective; this is the eighth objective we’ve claimed, and therefore we have now technically won the game. Of course, it defeats the purpose of playing to claim victory before even winning the two biggest campaigns, so, I fight on.
On last note is worth mentioning here. Over the last year or so there has been little naval combat, aside from an occasional lone destroyer or unescorted transport ship meandering around. Portugal and Spain did have navies, of course, and I considered myself adequately prepared for both with one carrier fleet and one gunship fleet. The Portuguese were disposed of with little ceremony. We began port strikes against Lisboa, which prompted their navy to attempt a break out, and resulted in their complete annihilation. The Spanish fleet, however, was dispersed throughout various ports. This complicated their destruction. I was able to sink two fleets, based out of Cadiz, but with various other matters to attend to, I neglected to finish the job with the other fleets. I was surprised, then, a few weeks later to see my gunship fleet under heavy attack off the coast near Porto. The situation was worsened by the fact that I had not even bothered to return the fleet to port for repairs since the beginning of the campaign. My fleet was able to drive off and sink the Spaniards, but at the cost of a light cruiser. This was the first ship lost in combat in over a year, and hopefully will be the last.
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