Inside the Beltway - Winter 1944

    Back in late 1939, I was rather surprised by the resilience of the Allies, France in particular.  Five years later, unexpected resilience rears its ugly head again and upsets many plans and predictions.

Germany Down, But Not Out

    The most obvious example of tenacity occurs in Europe.  In my last post, I indicated that the fall of Athens and Tirana was imminent, and as the front began to shrink, the European Axis powers would collapse quickly.  Athens did, in fact, fall quickly; however, that was the extent of my accurate predictions.  The Italians were able to reinforce Tirana and fend off numerous encirclement attempts, before finally surrendering the city in March.

    It is worth mentioning that a few years ago the Germans sent a large expeditionary force to Hungary.  So large, in fact, that the Hungarians kept up around 50% more brigades than Germany itself for the last few years.  I suspect the motive for this was to allow Hungary to supply the manpower for reinforcements.  It worked reasonably well for a few years.  The Germans and Hungarians each lost manpower steadily, but maintained a strong continuous front.  The German manpower reserve has long since run dry, however, and by the end of last year even the Hungarians bottomed out.

    Yet they have managed to deal even heavier losses to the Soviets.  The deep well of Russian manpower has also come up dry.  Throughout the winter each of the combatants were hovering between zero and ten points of manpower, meaning that men were being sent to the front the minute they received their uniforms.  I fully expect the Soviets, with greater continuous manpower production, to eventually win out.  Yet every week or so of game time, I scroll over to Eastern Europe, expecting to see the massive red blob finally swallowing up Berlin and Budapest, only to find the Germans still hanging on in Leningrad and Riga, and the Soviets only barely encroaching on the Hungarian border.  I can’t help but to wonder if the Germans can pull out a victory after all.

Hell on the West Coast

    With the invasion of the American Atlantic coast imminent, I know that I need to maintain pressure on their forces on the Pacific.  The Americans themselves obliged by launching fruitless counterattacks against positions I gained in December.  A pair of counter-attacks against San Luis in Mexico cost the Allies around 4,000 dead, with less than 500 casualties to us.  After this stinging rebuke, they shifted back to the hotly contested Riverside area.  I Gun occupied the province in a light counterattack after the ill-fated XIII Gun was driven out at the end of last year; unwilling to accept the result, the Americans begin a relentless counter attack which runs from January 12^th until February 1^st.  I Gun is reinforced and replaced by II Gun, which in turn is replaced by a recuperated XIII Gun.  When the massive host of American armor finally relents, their only claim that of having set a new record for carnage.  They lose over 29,000 men, three full divisions worth, in the wasted effort.  We suffer 16,500 casualties; a tremendous number, but easily replaceable.

    With the three new corps now settling in to active duty, I now have enough frontage to expand the occupied zone further.  In Mid January, as I Gun comes under fire in Riverside, I launch an attack up the coastline at Santa Monica with XIV Gun.  Little did I know that the Battle of Santa Monica would eventually dwarf even the ghastly Battle of Riverside.  It started inauspiciously, but mildly.  After a week of fighting, I call off the attack in order to conserve strength, in light of mounting casualties at Riverside.  This first engagement costs us 6,700 dead, and we inflict only 5,000.  After the American collapse at Riverside, I start over with the fresh XV Gun in early February.  The fighting escalates quickly, and becomes every bit as intense as the fighting at Riverside.  Like there, my forces eventually wither away from exhaustion, and I send in fresh divisions to keep the pressure up.  First XV Gun, then XIV, then XIII Gun, then XV again each have their turn, until the attack finally breaks down on March 9^th.  We reposition and rotate the troops, allowing them to fully regain strength, before heading into the breach one last time in mid March.  This last assault pushes the American defenders past the breaking point, and they retreat on the 31^st.  The final tally for these battles demonstrates an impressive level of resolve that far exceeds my expectations.  Through the nearly three-month long battle, the Americans suffer 56,000 casualties, twice the losses at Riverside and far ahead of any other battle losses of the war.  Nor was the battle lopsided.  The survivors of the three corps earn “veteran” status at the expense of 47,000 dead, or nearly one third of the men sent into battle.

    These battles, along with a number of smaller ones, are obviously taking a toll.  Previously, I had thought that units that do not receive reinforcements due to lack of manpower reserves do not regain organization strength.  Yet that obviously is not the case.  By mid January I begin seeing American divisions entering battle with full organization and around 80-90% troop strength.  As winter wears on, the average troop strength steadily declines, yet organization remains high.  By the end of March it is common to see American divisions at 50% or less manpower, but still fighting strong.  This is a possibly disturbing fact.  I had expected the depletion of the American strategic manpower to lead to a complete collapse of their fighting strength, but despite the fact that I have obviously succeeded in bleeding them dry, they continue to fend us off, launch counterattacks, and otherwise bog us down.

The Atlantic Coast

    With no immediate prospects for success on the Pacific Coast, the need for an offensive on the Atlantic Coast becomes even more apparent than ever.  In late January the bulk of newly re-established 2 Homen-Gun (VI-X Gun) are stationed around the Caribbean, and a few transport fleets shuffled into the area.  The invasion begins, then, on January 28^th, with VIII Gun landing at Annapolis.

    Despite the significance of the campaign, I did not create a detailed plan of any sort.  The reasons for this are that I had very little information on American troop deployments, nor are there really any critical strategic objectives (outside of Washington, of course).  For all I knew, the entire coastline was teaming with dozens of fresh armor divisions.  Or, the entire coastline could be defended by a single half-strength militia division.  I really didn’t know.  So, my plan was to throw everything I had at the area.  My initial goal was to capture Washington as quickly as possible.  I expected the Americans to have a large depot of supplies there, which could help fuel my invasion.  After that, my plan is to simply drive outward in all directions, focusing on taking areas that generate manpower.

I usually try to deploy my troops in numerical order, but wasn't able to this time.  This arrangement will haunt me for months.

    The landing itself went off mostly smoothly.  I expected Washington itself to be defended, and without my Rikusentai available, a landing at Annapolis seemed to be the quickest route to Washington.  An American infantry division moved in to block the landing, but was eventually driven off.  However, once landed, VIII Gun came under constant counter-attacks, preventing any attempts at Washington.  Accordingly, I decided to land more troops south of the city, starting with VII Gun immediately south.  Eventually this caused an overall breakdown in the counter-attacks, and I was able to take Washington on February 6^th.

    Fortunately, the Americans did have a decent stockpile of supplies in Washington.  We captured around 70,000 units of supplies and 99,000 units of fuel, which should keep us supplied for several months.  Well supplied, and with a usable port, I begin bringing my force in with gusto.  Throughout the remainder of the winter, I expand outward from Washington in all directions.  I am most successful in the south and southwest, but I am brought to a halt almost immediately northwest of Washington, where I quickly encounter the Appalachians.  In March, in particular, a series of battles in and around the province of Cumberland costs us around 15,000 dead from VII and X Gun, with about an equal number lost by the Americans.  Further, some of these were successful counterattacks, in which we lost ground.  With disproportionately high casualties, few gains and a real chance of losing Washington to a stray blitz attack, I decide to settle in to a hard defense in this area, and focus offensive operations on the flanks.

    The invasion of the American homeland is now fully underway, and the war has entered its climactic stage.  I have 15 corps aligned on two fronts, the largest by far I have fielded in this game; they are opposed by an even larger number of bled down, but better equipped, Allied divisions, who have proven to be impervious to my traditional attrition methods.  The spring of 1944 promises the most eventful period of the war.

The San Diego Breakout - Autumn 1943

    Looking back at this play-through, there is a rather obvious trend of activity.  The summers tend to be uneventful, frequently even dull, while autumns tend to be action-packed.  1943 may be the most extreme example of this trend yet.

A Slow Collapse on the Eastern Front

    In my last post, I predicted that the European Axis forces might completely collapse by the end of the year.  The situation did not deteriorate that quickly, but only due to heroic efforts of the Germans and Hungarians to sustain a cause which is now quite obviously hopeless.

    In the far north, the Germans have maintained a dogged defense of Leningrad.  The Soviets have made aggressive efforts to recapture the city; failing that, they have switched tactics to attempt an encirclement of the city by capturing Varna.  Even this effort was only barely fended off by the Germans.  The Soviets have now switched focus even further south, attempting to encircle the entire region by capturing Riga.  They are not successful before year-end, but the ultimate success is a matter of time, and I expect this will be the death blow for the Germans.

    In the southern portion of the line the Soviets are much more successful.  The Romanian army collapses completely in October, and the nation is annexed outright on November 1^st.  This is repeated by the Bulgarians, who surrender on the 29^th.  By the end of the year, the Soviets have occupied Salonica on the Aegean Coast, and are within 30 miles of the capture of Athena and Tirane.

    By the end of 1943, the front now stretches from Athens to Leningrad, and is as long as it possibly can be.  The front will begin to shrink early next year as the Soviets advance in the Baltic States and in the Balkans.  This will cause a concentration of force which favors the Soviets, who will be capable of maintaining continuous attacks against the exhausted Axis forces.  I do not foresee the Germans surviving past June.

Idle Invasions in Central America

    During the summer, I began transporting troops to Central America in preparation for the beginning of the invasion of the East Coast of the United States.  This is a lengthy process, so I decided to employ my idle troops with invasions of a few countries in the area.  Costa Rica came first, way back in May.  That invasion, taking only a week, was not worth mentioning even in the uneventful summer.  The operation against Venezuela came next.  Venezuela is a tricky country to invade, because its capital, Caracas, has no nearby port.  Normally when I invade Venezuela, I don’t have to worry about the Suriname/Guyana area either, since I typically have already conquered the Allies completely, or have not yet declared war on them.  These provinces, then, also complicated matters.

    With a fair amount of time to kill, I decided to be thorough about the invasion.  I deployed my LXII Rikusentai Gun to Cayenne; from there they marched westward, driving gradually to Caracas.  While this was going on, I landed LI Gun near Maracaibo, the other victory point province in the country.  After lengthy marches and a respectable amount of fighting, Venezuela surrenders on November 2^nd.  The Rikusentai continued westward to arrive (eventually) at Maracaibo, to begin amphibious landings in the Caribbean.  LI Gun headed south to form the core of my force against Columbia.  VIII Gun was sent to Maracaibo, in order to occupy Cartagena, while VII Gun maintained a defensive position on the Panama Isthmus.

    My forces were in their launching positions on December 20^th, and I declared war against Columbia.  This invasion went smoothly, with little fighting in Cartagena and none on the Panama Isthmus.  LI Gun occupies Bogota on January 9^th, forcing the government to surrender.  LXII Gun, meanwhile, makes short work of a few minor Caribbean nations, forcing the surrender of Haiti on January 4^th and the Dominican Republic a week later.  I plan on a landing near Washington DC soon, so the Central American campaign is placed on the back burner for the current time.

Operation Head-Up-The-91-Until-You-Hit-The-215

    With our spies reporting that the Americans are nearing the bottom of their manpower pool, I decide that I have nothing to lose by beginning an offensive in the San Diego region.  In the best-case scenario, I can inflict losses so heavy that the Allies completely crumble and flee headlong across the continent.  Worst case scenario, I have to break the attacks off early, losing a few men for no gain.  The most likely result is the infliction of a moderate amount of casualties on both sides, which I can afford, and the Americans can’t.  I can live with that.

    The plan is fairly simple, and has no particular goal.  The attack will be initiated by IV Gun moving to Mexicali (from Tijuana), and attacking northeast to El Centro.  III Gun will attack Coachella, and II Gun will attack Riverside.  I and V Gun will anchor the flanks, in Los Angeles and Mexicali, respectively.  If the initial attacks are successful, V Gun will attack eastward to San Luis Rio Colorado.  Newly recruited corps may be brought over, and added to the offensive later.

The San Diego Front in early December 1943

    The attack kicks off on December 8^th.  The fighting, predictably, is very heavy.  The bulk of the American forces are armored, as are some of my divisions.  The fighting rages for three full days before we start to see progress.  On the 11^th the defenders at Riverside fall back; we lose 1,400 killed, and inflict nearly 6,000.  Southward, the defenders put up a more dogged defense.  The defenders at El Centro hold on until the 14^th, inflicting 3,172 casualties on us and suffering over 8,000 themselves.  The defenders at Coachella hold out an additional day; the battle there ends with 2,243 dead on our side and a staggering 10,417 on theirs.

    The AI will generally attempt to reinforce a province under attack.  If they are unable to get the reinforcements to the front in time, they have a bad habit of simply converting the reinforcement to a counterattack.  This usually fails badly, as the now-attacking force is generally inadequate for the task.  I see quite a bit of this scenario during this offensive.  The first case erupts when II Gun arrives at Riverside on the 15^th; the attacking Americans, which we outnumber, collapse quickly, losing 3,500 men in the effort, far more than the meager 700 I lose.  III Gun meets a similar situation upon arrival in Coachella; they lose over 1,500 defending the province, and inflict over 6,000 on the would-be attackers.

    Around the 18^th, newly-formed XV Gun arrives in Los Angeles.  Thus, with the center of the line secure, I decide to press offensives on both ends.  V Gun has a surprising amount of success at San Luis; I expected the Colorado River to pose a formidable obstacle.  Happily, we are able to match the results we had elsewhere, losing a tolerable 2,249 killed, while inflicting 7,143 casualties on the combined Mexican and American forces.  This, sadly, marks the end of lopsided successes.

    By the 26^th, I Gun has had such little success attacking Pasadena that the attack is cancelled.  I pay over 6,000 casualties for this attempt, inflicting slightly fewer.  Eastward, II and III Gun make similar attempts against Barstow and Twentynine Palms, which are likewise cancelled.  The casualties in these battles are lower, with around 5,000 total for us and around 7,500 for the Americans.  Despite the casualty disparity, our organization is reduced significantly.  The Americans are not slow to take advantage, and immediately begin an intense counterattack at Riverside.  II Gun is forced to withdraw on the 24^th after suffering another 2,500 dead.  Newly formed XIII Gun is ushered in to attempt to keep the province.  They arrive in time, but the attackers maintain a withering assault, eventually driving my recruits back on the 30^th.  The corps suffers nearly 9,000 dead, proving they are dedicated, if not skilled.  I’d rather have skilled.

    Both sides stand down to take a much-needed breather at the end of the year.  The total figures for the operation are jaw-dropping.  In a short three weeks, we lost over 33,000 killed in action, far more than in the previous eleven months combined.  The Allies fared even worse, losing over 60,000, roughly an entire corps, not including losses from air strikes.  Overall, this is not a bad trade-off; my losses are replaced within days, and part of his will never be replaced.  Manpower reserves aside, however, one lesson is clear.  The Americans still have many more divisions, and thus much greater front-line strength than I have in this area.  Even after lopsided victories, I was unable to persist in the attacks in a way that could guarantee cascading victories.  Instead, my troops were forced back onto the defensive and were pushed back to their starting points by overwhelming counterattacks.

    Apparently, the need for a second front is as great as ever.  My forces in Central America, then, are sent to staging areas for an invasion of the American East Coast.  My plan is for an amphibious assault directly at Washington DC.  This will allow me to capture a massive stockpile of supplies, while keeping those same supplies from the Allies.  More importantly, it will draw forces from the West Coast.  This will allow me to resume a steady offensive in that region; meanwhile, it may take months for the Allies to redeploy, during which time my troops should have an impressive superiority in the East.  These factors, combined, should bring a (relatively) sudden end to the American war effort.

Attrition Arising - Mid 1943

    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.

The plan for my Iberian conquest.

    The operation kicks off with the declaration of war against Portugal on April 5^th.  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 21^st.  It was a credible, although completely futile, movement.

    The war opened on the 22^nd; 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 2^nd.

    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 5^th; 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 31^st.  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.

Panama and Ireland - Winter 1943

    As I mentioned in my previous post, I begin 1943 rather directionless.  My primary strategic goal, of course, is the elimination of the remaining Allies.  And of this goal, of course, the primary component is the United States.  There are other nations, namely South Africa and assorted Latin American countries, but these are mere inconveniences which I can dispose of with little effort.  The US, however, is the increasingly difficult dilemma.  While our manpower is much greater than theirs, they have probably twice my industrial capacity.  They can build hordes of armor divisions, while I am lucky to produce half a dozen a year.  The worst thing is, this situation is not likely to change anytime soon.

Dealing With the Elephant in the Room

    Accordingly, I’ve come up with a few plans to implement over the next year.  None of these plans is likely to really solve the dilemma by themselves, but combined, I hope to turn the odds in my favor.

    First: Bombings.  The one advantage I have over the Americans is their (relatively) low manpower.  Generally, one of the most effective ways to break the back of your opponent is to deplete his manpower supply, and a good way of doing that is to launch incessant bombing raids.  Up until now, my bombers have been performing make-work duty by bombing partisan brigades out of existence.  They’ve done well at this, but my rear-guard (cavalry, garrison and MP) units are now built up to a point where they are capable of suppressing the partisans by themselves.  So, my bombers get transferred to front-line duty in San Diego, to bring the American manpower pool down a bit.

    Unfortunately, I have severally neglected my air power.  I currently have only five tactical bomber squadrons, which is not nearly enough for my needs.  Worse yet, the build time (and cost) for further units is extraordinary.  I can add in a few CAGs, but even then I am not likely to do more than keep the American manpower pool from growing.

    I begin the bombings in early March.  I have worked to establish air superiority with my fighters and CAGs, so my bombers have a fairly easy time of it.  We inflict around 500 casualties per strike, and manage to perform around three strikes per day.  This continues through the month, until anti-aircraft fire manages to deplete the bombers enough to warrant some down-time.  Overall, this has likely helped a bit, but, paradoxically, I won’t know how useful these strikes are until the war starts to wind down.

    The second part of my plan is a re-alignment of my industrial strategy.  Currently, I am focusing heavily on building up armor.  Unfortunately, armor is slow and expensive.  Instead, I am going to shift priority to building up infantry units, similar to the ones I have now.  My infantry divisions currently look like this: 2 infantry brigades, an anti-tank/anti-aircraft brigade, an engineer brigade and an artillery brigade.  I have been attempting to replace one of the infantry brigades with either a heavy or medium tank brigade, but I can no longer tolerate the slow transition, so I put in orders for new infantry divisions instead.  I’ve never had much luck fighting with infantry-heavy armies, but if I want to build up a sufficient force strength I’ll need to get well outside of my comfort zone and improvise with what I can make.

    The reprioritization will be accompanied by a change in occupation policies, at least for the British.  As I said before, my magnanimous policies are costing me a substantial industrial penalty.  By switching to a less generous policy, I can gain as much as 50 IC points.  This will cut my leadership (which I don’t need) and manpower (which I also have plenty of), but the main drawback will be the increase in the already rampaging partisan attacks.  Oh well, eggs must be broken.

    The third portion of my American policy is a return to the stalled Panama Canal campaign.  If you remember, I initially began twin invasions of the Suez and Panama Canals over a year ago.  The Suez campaign was a complete success, but the Panama campaign stalled out due to the need to build up and maintain a defensive position in San Diego.  With Britain now completely subdued, my entire army is now ready for action in the Western Hemisphere, and I can restart the leap-frogging invasions down the Latin American coastline.

Expanding My Collection of Canals

    LXII Gun takes the lead role in this effort.  They launch out from Honolulu, while carrier and gunship fleets sail from San Diego.  The first destination is Managua.  Nicaragua is still neutral; however, this area is the maximum range of my escorts, meaning I must land in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras or El Salvador.  Of these, Honduras is already at war with me, and is mobilized, and Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador feature mountainous terrain.  I am also trying to keep Guatemala neutral to prevent land forces from crossing through Mexico.  Ergo, Nicaragua is the only reasonable first target.  From there, I will head north to eliminate Honduras (a land battle being preferable to an amphibious invasion).  Then, I’ll load the troops onto transports and ferry them to the southern coast of Panama, where I will drive through Panama and Colon.

My plan for Panama

    It is not often that I get to use this sentence, so pardon me while I savor it.  Everything went according to plan.  Mmmm, that felt good.  I declared war on Nicaragua on March 7^th.  They were completely unprepared; the fighting was minimal, and our troops fully occupied Managua on the 9^th, forcing their surrender the next day.  Honduras, with the benefit of better terrain, and the advantage of being mobilized, put up a bit of a fight.  It took until the 19^th to drive Honduran troops from Teucigalpa.  We lose 2,470 dead in the battle, and inflict 3,306 casualties.  358 Rikusentai takes the brunt of the losses, and is reduced to 20 organization points, and consequently sits out the rest of the campaign.  I shuttle the remainder of the corps to Panama.  The landing is unopposed, and we drive the Panamanian forces out of the capital with minimal fighting.  They surrender on April 2^nd.  The battle for Colon is equally trivial, and we occupy the Panama Canal fully by the 5^th.

Bringing Random Violence to Ireland

    Since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to dispose of Ireland.  I do not have any particular objective, I merely recognize that I will have to conquer them at some point, and I have a few corps lingering around in Britain, sooo….

    Like my other operations this winter, the conquest of Ireland deserves little mention.  Ireland has two points which need to be occupied: Dublin, and Cork.  In theory, I could easily conquer the country in two or three days, but my transports were busy, so I decide to make a thing of it.  My plan is to use IX Gun to drive along the southeastern coast of the country, taking the two main points.  VI and VII Gun will conduct a general invasion, tying up the Irish army and causing random(er) havoc.

VI and VII are given a surprisingly easy assignment

    As with the Panama Canal invasion, this all goes off without a hitch.  We declare war on February 20^th; IX Gun marches into Dublin on the 26^th, and takes Cork on March 15^th.  While the Irish army contained a large number of divisions, these were all de-mobilized, and there were no battles worth mentioning.

    Thus, I end the season little more focus than I began it.  I am planning an invasion of Portugal for April, which will set the ground for an invasion of Spain.  I plan on using VI, VII and IX Gun for these operations, and then projecting them south for the invasion of South Africa.  VIII and LI Gun will likely be sent to Panama to help in the occupation of the Latin American countries.  However, I regard these as minor actions of little significance.  The larger affair against the United States remains as distant as ever.

The Fall of the British Empire - December 1942

    After the occupation of London, the surrender of the British government is well within reach.  I have 99% of the victory points necessary to force their surrender, and the five points at Birmingham, which I abandoned in late October, will push them over the edge.  However, I like to make a clean sweep of things, and I have no particular place to be, so I decide to mop up the remaining forces in the southern pocket.

Great, Sure, But Better Than London?

    The plan is fairly simple.  VIII Gun, starting from Southend, will attack northeastward through Ipswich and Lowestoft.  VII Gun, starting in Cambridge, will take Thetford and Norwich.  IX Gun, starting from Lincoln and Northampton, will take Peterborough, Kings Lynn, and Langham.  At this point all of the British forces in the region will have retreated to Great Yarmouth, where we can then wipe them out.  After the heavy losses of November’s battles, I expect the British forces to be severely demoralized and put up little fight.

    In this regard I am wrong, at least a little.  At Thetford in particular the Brits show they have quite a bit of fight left in them.  They hold us of until December 10^th, inflicting 1,654 casualties on us, and suffering 2,640 themselves.  In Lowestoft the Brits hold out for two additional days, but inflict only 521 casualties on us and take 1,886 themselves.  IX Gun encounters virtually no resistance, and reaches Langham with minimal casualties.

    The final battle of the campaign, and thus the war, begins on December 24^th.  We attack Great Yarmouth with three divisions from each corps, in order to prevent an excessive stacking penalty and to allow for half of my force to be used as a reserve if needed.  No reserve was needed, however, and a brief two days of fighting constituted the last gasp of the British Empire.  We took a mild 619 KIA, while the British gave everything they had, suffering 3,364 dead.  We capture 78,700 men here; I don’t know how many of these escaped the encirclement at London, but at least seven divisions were not from London, meaning around 10-30,000 were probably refugees from the city.

The End of the Empire

    On December 30^th two divisions from LI Gun re-occupy Birmingham after a brief skirmish.  The British government surrenders and flees into exile the next day.  The entire conquest, then, lasted around four months.  We inflicted nearly 50,000 casualties and captured over 200,000 POWs, and suffered less than 20,000 dead ourselves.  Overall, this was a much easier conquest than the grueling fighting on the Malay Peninsula, taking half as long and causing far fewer losses on my side.  The gains, however, are greater.  We add around 90 industrial capacity points; although my lenient occupation policies will halve this for the time being, it’s still a huge boon.  We also get a large steady stream of metals and energy, as well as a huge stockpile of both to keep us running at full capacity for years.

    For the near future, I don’t really have any clear goals.  I do not have adequate forces to launch a full invasion of the USA.  Spain, Turkey and South Africa beckon, but I do not expect those conquests to last any significant length of time.  1943 is likely to be a relatively quiet year of putting down partisans and building up a sufficient army.  With diligence, I can expect to launch a full invasion of North America in early 1944, and have it wrapped up within a year.  This should give me two and half years or so to deal with the Soviets, assuming they finish up the European Axis in the meantime.  This is a highly ambitious time table, but I remain confident that I can pull it off.

The Battle of London - Mid Autumn 1942

    In late October I start to put my plans for the final offensive into action.  At first, I meet respectable resistance.  The left flank of VII Gun fails in an attack against Oxford on the 14^th, costing me 1,651 dead and inflicting 1,128 casualties.  The right flank is more successful, taking Reading on the 17^th, with a roughly reversed casualty ratio.  With IX Gun occupying Leicester, though, the British begin a realignment of the front in an attempt to block the full encirclement.  Consequently, we are able to take several provinces, including Oxford, with fairly little effort within the next few weeks.

    The biggest gains are in the south, where the British surrender the entire Channel Coast.  The lead elements of VIII Gun are able to take Portsmouth before two divisions can be evacuated from Newport.  We pause on October 28^th to force their surrender.  They put up a stiff but ultimately futile defense, inflicting 1,326 KIA on us, while losing only 841 themselves; the remaining 15,000 surrender, and we continue along the coastline, occupying Brighton and Dover, before closing in on London.

The Battle of London

    In mid November, with IX Gun rapidly closing in on Lincoln, I start to map out the specifics of the operation.  VI Gun will hold the anchor position in Gloucester, keeping the supply route from Bristol and Plymouth secure.  LI Gun will hold Evesham and Coventry in the center of the north flank, while IX Gun holds the door closed in Leicester and Lincoln.  VIII Gun, in the far south, will occupy the three provinces south of London, while VII Gun attempts to encircle the city itself by occupying those to the north.  VII Gun’s route is farther, though, and might easily be complicated by British forces.  Therefore, while the encirclement of London is preferable, I won’t delay the attack for it.

    On November 15^th, on the day IX Gun takes Lincoln, VIII Guns launches the attack against London.  This battle, more so than any other I’ve ever seen, indicates why it is a really bad idea to stack a mountain of divisions in a single province.  The British have a total of 43 (!!!) divisions here.  By contrast, I have 29 on the entire island.  By sheer numbers alone, I should have little chance of success, yet numbers fail to tell the whole story.  Of the 43 divisions, 40 are militias (technically partisans), which were likely created in Europe and evacuated back to Britain.  Militia units are generally only useful as fodder to slow an enemy down.  Had the British used them this way, by deploying them anywhere and everywhere, they might have helped.  Maybe, maybe not.  It is also noteworthy that several were bled down to zero organization, and, in some cases, 50% strength.  This is likely a result of an exhausted manpower pool.  As such, they would have been more useful if they were disbanded.

    The most important factor in the Battle of London, then, was the crippling stacking penalty imposed on the British.  With 43 (!!!) divisions piled into one small province, they suffered a 97% stacking penalty, which meant they had virtually no chance of inflicting any damage on my attacking forces.  At this point, the smart thing to do would be to retreat the bulk of the divisions, to reduce the penalty.  In particular, those with little or no organization were doing far more harm than good.  They didn’t, however, and as a result the only divisions that might have been useful were rendered useless.

    Of course, that is not to say the battle was easy for me.  As the battle dragged on day after day, many of the divisions were eventually driven off, perversely improving the effectiveness of British.  I was also facing an urban battlefield, a river crossing (from each province), and land forts.  Due to the wide front, those divisions that did have organization remaining came up to the front quickly, and I eventually had to drive off each in turn.

    Northward, VII Gun ran into obstacles in their part of the battle, as expected.  They occupied Luton with only minor difficulty, but they encountered problems consistently throughout the remainder of the month.  The weather slowed movement down, and troops retreating from London frequently obstructed them.  They did not occupy Cambridge until the 22^nd.  After that, two divisions from the corps joined in the attack on London, but the remaining four divisions only served to prevent retreats from the city.  It was not until the 29^th that they finally occupied Southend, sealing off the city.  At that point, however, it became a mostly moot point.

    It was on that day, only two hours later, that the final defenders of London gave up the fight.  The battle ran a full two weeks, and despite the large penalties applied to each side, the battle took a huge toll.  We lost 3,542 men, more than any other battle of the campaign.  The British, needless to say, suffered far worse.  A total of 10,734 Brits died in the effort, out of an initial 137,227.  Because of the limited feedback, I don’t know exactly how many POWs were rounded up as a result of the VII Gun’s encirclement, but I suspect the number is around 70,000.  For those that did escape, however, there is little comfort, as repeated attempts to break open a route to reunite with the forces outside the southern pocket have, by now, failed just as utterly as the defense of London.

The Battles of Lincoln and Leicester

    While the Battle of London was the focal point of the campaign, the occupation of Lincoln eventually became more significant.  By severing the British army in two, with supplies on one side and the best forces on the other side, I guaranteed the collapse of the British war effort.  The British themselves recognized this, and placed an even greater emphasis at breaking this encirclement than the one at London.

    The counterattacks began as soon as IX Gun occupied Lincoln.  Both Lincoln and Leicester were attacked, and each from multiple sides.  The British quickly rushed forces from Wales and Scotland to strike from the north, while virtually all of the battle-ready troops in the south were used as well (as evidenced by the fact that only three non-militia divisions participated in the Battle of London).

    The details of these battles were strikingly different from those of the Battle of London, yet the final result was eerily similar.  I maintained a defense throughout the duration of the battles, holding the two provinces with only three divisions each.  We made good use of rivers separating us from the Brits on either side, but this was the only significant modifier to either side.  Also unlike the Battle of London, these battles were divided up into four parts; each province was attacked separately, and the British called off the attacks to take breather around the 20^th, only to restart the battles again the next day.

    Yet despite these differences, the outcome was nearly identical.  The final attack at Lincoln petered out on the 28^th, a day before the Battle of London ended.  The total casualties, too, paralleled the Battle of London; I suffered a total of 3,860 dead, while the Brits lost 10,278.   Coincidences aside, the successful conclusions of these battles is a tremendous blow to the British.  At London, their entire supply base was captured, as well as their largest source of desperately needed manpower.  In the north, the cream of the British army had battered themselves bloody up against a single corps of my army.  VI, VII, and LI Gun are still fresh and ready for anything the Brits could throw at them, while the Brits themselves are exhausted and without hope of resupply or reinforcement.  I am now perfectly situated to deliver the final, fatal blow to the British Empire.

A Foothold in Britain - Early Autumn 1942

    One of the best parts about invading an island is the abundance of opportunities to separate your opponent’s armies and destroy them piecemeal.  By contrast, when fighting along a multi-thousand mile front, (like in Russia or North America), your only gains are the captured provinces as you slog forward.  Your opponent can always shuffle spent troops off the front line, while steadily building up forces in the rear.  But on islands and peninsulas, you get to steadily knock large chunks of your opponent’s army out of the game, making mid-campaign comebacks impossible and accelerating the pace of the invasion.  Thus, whenever I invade an island, I draw up my plans with an eye towards these divide-and-conquer operations.  For my invasion of Britain, the entire operation is a series of such maneuvers.  If successful, the British army will be decimated and the actual capture of victory points will be a mere formality.

The Battle of Bideford

    My initial plan called for a landing at Taunton.  Aside from the flexibility to seize either of three nearby ports, a landing here cuts off the troops in Cornwall completely, and sets up the first envelopment operation.  Of course, this didn’t work out as I had planned.  The British mounted such a stout defense of Taunton that I was forced to land at Plymouth and Exeter instead.  Oddly, though, the rigid defense of Taunton may have worked in my favor.  As British divisions retreated from the battle, they headed west in Bideford; that is, they steadily increased the troops available for encirclement.  Say what you want about the British, they are obliging.

    With Plymouth occupied, I was able to bring IX and LI Gun ashore very quickly, and we launched an overwhelming attack up the peninsula.  My troops, no longer suffering from the amphibious landing penalty, took Taunton with very little trouble in early September.  IX Gun held the line there, while LI Gun spread out into Exeter and Bude to set up the death blow at Bideford.  The battle there raged for nearly a week; when the smoke clears on September 10^th, we count up 1,495 killed on our side, 4,269 British dead, and 44,421 British POWs.  This battle helps to alleviate some of the misgivings I developed during the Malay Peninsula Campaign, in which virtually every battle saw higher casualties on my side.  In this case, it definitely helped that most of the British troops were already exhausted as a result of the defense at Taunton.  However, from this point on, the casualty figures are generally in my favor, due to superior division composition, skilled troops and leaders, and deft strategies.

A Breakout . . . Kind Of

    After the Battle of Bideford, I now have three full corps of infantry ready to start plundering the English countryside, with two more en route.  Unfortunately, we run up against the drawback of peninsular combat.  Namely, that the same narrow front that I used to encircle the British can be easily used against me by allowing the British to concentrate their defenses in a small area.  Neighboring Taunton are Bristol to the northeast and Weymouth to the east.  In order to prevent counter-attacks, I attack both provinces simultaneously.  The ensuing battles are bloody and lengthy, setting the tone for the remainder of the British invasion.  With IX Gun reaching the breaking point (mainly due to air raids), we abort the attack against Weymouth on the 16^th.  We suffer 1,926 dead (not including losses from the air raids), and inflict only 1,407.  The British, however, are sufficiently bruised that they do not attempt a counterattack.  The Battle of Bristol is the most severe yet; we suffer 3,607 dead, and inflict 5,818, noticeably higher figures than the Battle of Bideford.  Yet with the seizure of Bristol we gain a second route of supplies and an open door to the juicy interior of the country.

    Late September and early October are the most tenuous of the invasion.  It becomes apparent that the British have a vast army ready for the last-ditch defense of the home island.  I launch an unending series of battles to expand the breakout.  I win most, but, ominously, I always encounter fresh British units in the next province.  I proceed without any definite plan, and my attacks seem to be launched out of momentum rather than strategy.  At the end of September the situation is very perilous; while VI Gun has nearly arrived, we still have only three corps spread throughout a four province wide front.  Each is starting to run low on organization, averaging around 20 per division, and a large number of fresh British divisions are ready to attack us in a number of areas.  At this point I hold two transport fleets in Bristol and Plymouth in case I need to evacuate the force.

    Yet the expected devastating counter-attack never occurs.  VI and VII Gun arrive on the front in mid-October, followed shortly thereafter by six much-needed anti-tank gun brigades.  The British have a large number of armor divisions on the front, but for some reason they are clustered in Wales.  As my offensive presses northward, I keep the Severn River on my left, and it serves well to neutralize the armor.  However, as with most strategic situations, the river was a double-edged sword.  When invading from Bristol, I normally like to isolate and conquer Wales early in the campaign, in order to take advantage of the numerous ports and (usually) light resistance here.  Yet in this case, the combination of the British armor and the river combine to make that plan unfeasible.

    Accordingly, I begin to formulate a new plan.  With the British acting unaccountably timid, I decide to crank the audacity level up to 11.  IX Gun, having already advanced through Gloucester, Evesham, and Birmingham, will turn east to occupy Leicester and Lincoln.  This will cut Britain in two, separating London from the northern portion of the island.  IX Gun, perhaps aided by VI and LI Gun if needed, will fend off the inevitable counter-attacks, while VII and VIII Gun surround London itself and go in for the kill.  With the big city taken, we can gradually smother the remaining forces in the southern pocket, after which the surrender of the government will be a formality.