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1: A 2: A
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Nov 19, 2017 18:21
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AB
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Nov 19, 2017 22:43
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AA
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Nov 20, 2017 08:49
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AC
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Nov 20, 2017 09:50
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AB
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Nov 20, 2017 14:51
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1A 2C Placing the Persian Gambit after Operation Shogun - an attack on France itself - should, it is hoped, take advantage of France's expected response of drawing some of their own forces off the =stalemate line in the Middle East and bringing them home to defend the homeland. Once they've (presumably) done so, the chances of an offensive strike into our lines will be lessened, meaning that replacing our units with less-experienced defenders should be only a minimal risk; the French will weaken their forces, meaning we'll be okay weakening our own. Meanwhile, if the Persian Gambit succeeds, we'll have created an anvil to smash the Internationale against.
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Nov 20, 2017 15:27
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B B
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Nov 20, 2017 17:01
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:1A If we're going to smash the Internationale, we'll do it in the west, where all their factories are. The Persian Gambit is about pushing an army through a few hundred miles of pretty, but godawful, terrain, with nothing important to the Syndicalist war effort but the troops there and the supply lines to Anatolia. If we don't push through Persia before those troops leave Anatolia, all we'll really accomplish is conquering the place before the Russians do. Which ain't nothing, but it ain't much, either.
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Nov 20, 2017 22:10
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B C
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Nov 20, 2017 22:15
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Friend Commuter posted:If we're going to smash the Internationale, we'll do it in the west, where all their factories are. The Persian Gambit is about pushing an army through a few hundred miles of pretty, but godawful, terrain, with nothing important to the Syndicalist war effort but the troops there and the supply lines to Anatolia. If we don't push through Persia before those troops leave Anatolia, all we'll really accomplish is conquering the place before the Russians do. Which ain't nothing, but it ain't much, either. Uh the oil in Baku is usually considered to be a pretty big deal.
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Nov 21, 2017 01:26
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Voting Closed! Plan A (Cross-Channel Assault) edges out Normandy-Poitou Pincer by 1 vote, 12-11. The Persian Gambit is approved for before Operation Shogun with a majority of 12 votes. 7 voted to launch it after the landings, and 4 voted not to launch it at all.
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Nov 25, 2017 22:20
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paragon1 posted:Uh the oil in Baku is usually considered to be a pretty big deal. Okay, fair point, but at this stage the war shouldn't last long enough for them to run down their oil stockpiles.
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Nov 25, 2017 23:12
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Chapter Twenty Four: Operation Shogun (April 16 – July 26, 1942) Entente planners knew that they would not be able to hide the preparations for the assault on Europe forever, but their luck had held through April. French strategic thought had been focused on the pursuit of a massive offensive into the Middle East, to gain oil lost after the recapture of Texas and to try and deny resources to the ever growing Entente industrial base that was bound to outproduce the Internationale in the long run. The arrival of over a hundred Entente divisions forced a stalemate instead. The French knew that a massive force was in their path, but what were not so sure about what national armies were most prevalent in the Eastern Command.  This began to change when the French made their first attempt at breaking the lines in Iraq. The experienced French commanders and veteran troops believed they had a good chance of breaking through the enemy line.  Their expertise was thwarted by the sheer scale of the defensive fortifications around Karbala that had been built in the weeks since the two armies had settled into the stalemate.  The French called off their first attack on Karbala after just a few days, having taken nearly thirty thousand casualties, including losing sixty-one tanks. What they also found was that there were hardly any Japanese or North American divisions. The French command had assumed that, based on underestimates of the size of the new Asian Entente armies, North American divisions were the ones shoring up the lines in the Middle East.  The realization that the Japanese and North American armies were not in the Middle East caused the neutral powers of the world to recognize that something was afoot. The Vozhd in particular was keen enough to see what was about to happen, and he decided that he wanted a piece of the action.  A Russian proposal for a grand bargain that would return Western Europe to the Entente while Russia would seize Eastern Europe. The Minseito absolutely refused to consider it, but also did not wish to publicly provoke Russia at that point in time, so the proposal was ignored and would remain classified until 1985.  As spring rolled into summer, the ideal invasion dates for the longest possible summer campaign came and went, as the Entente logistics network was overworked.  Finally, the Entente decided that a date needed to be set, and they decided that the invasion would launch immediately after the newest Japanese armored and motorized divisions arrived from the Home Islands, in late July. It was not optimal timing, but it would have to do.  While the passage of the optimal dates led some in the Internationale to be optimistic and believe they had until 1943 to prepare for an invasion, most commanders were not fooled and resorted to novel strategies to try and put the Entente off balance for as long as possible.  The Italian raid of Alexandria served as a distraction that pulled away Indian cavalry divisions earmarked for the invasion of Persia, but the Italians did not have the naval power to support a large invasion force.  More effective for the Internationale was the continued support of the Algerian rebels who declared victory in their war of liberation after seizing Tunis. The Entente continued to shun National France especially now that they held naval bases in Egypt.  About a week before the Japanese armor was scheduled to arrive in England, the Persian Gambit was given the go ahead. The main force meant to drive to the Caucasus was about half the size as originally planned, but the arrival of more French divisions on the line in Syria meant that more of the intended invasion force had to be left where it was to hold the line.  The Entente was cutting it close, as Turkestan was in a state of collapse by July.   In the end, their timing turned out to be very good, as the power of Turkestan to resist was shattered, but the Russians were not too close that they would cross the Persian border before the Entente could secure it.  A force of Burmese, Taiwanese and Indian infantry moved to do just that, while a mobile force of Chinese, New English, Indian, Japanese and Australasian divisions struck the main blow.  Most divisions pushed northwest towards Baku, while the Chinese divisions peeled off to secure Teheran.  The only resistance the Turkestan could put up to protect their vassal was one battered infantry division pushed south by the Russians.  The Australasian armor pushed ahead of every other division in order to scout, and found that Azerbaijan and Armenia were virtually undefended. Every French division in the region had been sent to try and break the line in Iraq and Syria.  The Entente conquest of Persia would cost virtually no blood or treasure.  The maneuver caught the Internationale by surprise, and their attempts to break the stalemate became more aggressive. They suffered more than fifty thousand casualties in a second attempt to take Karbala.   The attack on Turkestan did have one major consequence, in that it informed the Russians that their offer of a grand bargain was not going to be accepted, and so they retaliated by declaring more puppet states in the territory claimed by the Republic of China.  The advance Australasian light armor entered Baku without resistance, cutting off the only rail link between the French forces in the East and their homeland.  The very next morning, Operation Shogun begun. The first sign of invasion were the waves of aircraft which took off from Southeast England.  The pilots found that Amsterdam’s garrison had been redeployed to Bruges, and that the city was wide open, and so the American transports which had delivered the new Japanese armor to England were given an escort and told to crash the harbor. Amsterdam was a massive harbor, and the urban center of the Netherlands. If it could be captured without a fight, it would get the invasion off to a good start. The other two attacks on Dieppe and Bruges launched as planned.  The Bruges landing commenced an hour before the Dieppe landing. British and Canadian marines, backed up by Japanese armored divisions, attacked the Dutch defenders. The Dutch had never had a formidable army, but the veteran infantry they did had had been lost in America, and so poorly trained recruits were up against experienced marines.  Japanese and British marines attacking Dieppe found just a single French garrison division, which had been heavily bombed by Entente aircraft.  The Dieppe garrison had been unable to prevent the beach landings, and then had been surrounded in the city of Dieppe itself. They surrendered within four days of the initial landings.  The Amsterdam landings went off as expected, with two Japanese armor divisions seizing the city virtually unopposed. The Dutch populace, victims of a French-backed Totalist coup, regarded the invading liberals with a sense of relief more than anything else.  The port of Amsterdam allowed more divisions to pour in, and the first divisions that had landed moved inland to seize Arnhem.  Dieppe was under British control a few days later and was ready to take in reinforcements.  Bruges, which had been expected to be the easiest landing of all, turned out to take the longest, though it would not take remotely as long as the Cornish landings had.  Now that Japanese armor was ashore in great numbers, it was time to see just how effective Sakai’s doctrine of mobility would be. The Entente had successfully cut off the bulk of the Internationale army from the homeland, and their tanks would be able to travel on the good Western European roads quickly. Armored divisions were dispatched from the Netherlands proper to take the Bruges defenders from the rear. Optimistic assessments of coastal defenses had turned out to be accurate, and now the Entente aimed to put ashore as many divisions as possible. Operation Shogun was a success, but the war was not won just yet. The major French cities needed to fall in order to cripple the Internationale war effort, and the Entente had to try and capture as much territory as possible before winter, or opportunists, came.
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Nov 28, 2017 08:09
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Oh man, the French just went and put all the armies of Europe in the Middle East, didn't they?
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Nov 28, 2017 17:05
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The AI is not very smart.
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Nov 28, 2017 18:02
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Russia is also a bit confused. "We will create a new global alliance! Can we join the Entente?" I know it's because it has "ask Japan" as one of its options and Japan is usually not allied with any major power at the point Russia gets that decision, but still.
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Nov 28, 2017 18:31
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paragon1 posted:Oh man, the French just went and put all the armies of Europe in the Middle East, didn't they? Every last man.
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Nov 30, 2017 06:18
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I need the CSA back.
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Dec 2, 2017 08:24
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I kind of agree, this has turned into a campaign unto itself. Hopefully we can overwhelm Europe in the next couple of updates and get back to TLIYL.
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Dec 2, 2017 08:37
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Yeah, I've enjoyed following the Japan campaign and I'm grateful for all the work and presentation CSM has done, but as a humble reader I'm about ready to reach a stopping point. e: stupid newbie avatar feels real out of place in this thread
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Dec 2, 2017 09:01
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Okay, I'll make the presentation less granular to speed it along some and we can do a revote on whether or not to take on Russia after this campaign. I had never intended for an intermission game to be a world spanning global war scenario, which this one has been, even more so than the main one, so I'm cool with wrapping it up. (and besides, big spoiler here, the French aren't coming back from this one)
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Dec 2, 2017 09:14
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Chief Savage Man posted:(big spoiler here, the French aren't coming back from this one) No, really?
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Dec 2, 2017 09:25
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Redeye Flight posted:I need the CSA back. Trump and Senate Republicans getting to you too?  
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Dec 2, 2017 13:09
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Drone posted:Trump and Senate Republicans getting to you too? Yeah . I don't mind the Japan campaign at all, don't get me wrong. But the timestamp on that post will tell you just about everything you need to know about its inspiration.
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Dec 2, 2017 17:25
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I'd like to see Japan Campaign to the end tbh
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Dec 2, 2017 17:27
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Or at least after the Vozhd has been beaten
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Dec 2, 2017 17:27
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I am fine with seeing the Japan campaign continue to its logical conclusion: Japanese socialists reforming it to a force for global social democracy from within.
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Dec 2, 2017 17:29
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GunnerJ posted:I am fine with seeing the Japan campaign continue to its logical conclusion: Japanese socialists reforming it to a force for global social democracy from within. After conquering everything to make sure it's a really global force for reform, naturally.
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Dec 2, 2017 18:23
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Although the CSA campaign is basically over, too. The last update was like 8 months ago or whatever, but from what I remember Germany and the Entente are both crushed so... Is it weird to say I kinda miss the civil war days?
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Dec 3, 2017 04:00
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Crazycryodude posted:Although the CSA campaign is basically over, too. The last update was like 8 months ago or whatever, but from what I remember Germany and the Entente are both crushed so... That was the last point in the game where victory was in doubt, everything since then has been us crushing it (Minus our navy getting smashed).
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Dec 3, 2017 04:19
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It was kinda nice seeing Syndies crush the forces of reaction, not gonna lie
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Dec 3, 2017 05:11
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mcclay posted:It was kinda nice seeing Syndies crush the forces of reaction, not gonna lie Considering how good CSM is at weaving a pleasing leftist utopia narrative, I hope we at least get some kinda cathartic capstone to the CSA storyline. Glimpse of a better version of the world, etc.
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Dec 8, 2017 08:22
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Crazycryodude posted:Although the CSA campaign is basically over, too. The last update was like 8 months ago or whatever, but from what I remember Germany and the Entente are both crushed so... Germany might be done, but accounts have not been fully settled with the Entente, iirc.
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Dec 8, 2017 17:08
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To be honest I want to see more of the CSA because the last time we left the story it ended on such an ominous note and it makes me want to see where it goes. Meanwhile, this Japan game is pretty much finished, the Commune put all their eggs in one basket and now it's a triumph for the Entente, we could probably go for Russia but it would take forever.
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Dec 8, 2017 17:17
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paragon1 posted:Germany might be done, but accounts have not been fully settled with the Entente, iirc. Mitteleuropa is kaput, but Delhi and especially Australasia are still intact. Most importantly those fuckers still control Hawaii.
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Dec 8, 2017 17:20
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Chapter Twenty-Five: A Bridge Too Far (July 29 – August 28, 1942) By the end of July, the invaders had seized not only the French capital in Paris, but other major cities such as Brussels and Cologne.  English ports worked around the clock, as a massive queue of divisions waited to be loaded onto transports and ferried to the Low Countries. Armor and mobile divisions were sent first.  The sudden appearance of a few dozen highly mobile divisions in flat terrain, as well as the destruction of the Dutch army in America, meant that the Totalist state of the Netherlands was destroyed in about two weeks.  The invaders adopted a raiding posture, making bold and unprotected moves in order to capture territory and cut rail links before enemy forces could deploy against the invasion.  With just over half of the total invasion force landed, the supply chain of the invasion was already straining under the pressure.  Nevertheless, the invaders pushed forward, moving to link up both beachheads and to create a pocket around Calais.  As infantry landed in greater numbers, the invasion began to establish a coherent front. Japanese mobile assets continued to push south and east at high speed, while arriving infantry moved to conquer France’s industrial heartland.  In the south, an opportunity arose to form a pocket of enemy forces. The most heavily fortified region in Europe was the former boundary between France and Mitteleuropa, and so the maneuver-focused Entente wished to see these regions surrounded and attacked before they could be reinforced from Germany or the rest of France.  Wallonia and Luxembourg would surrender about a week after the fall of the Netherlands.  The planned pocket was formed with the capture of Nancy and Strasbourg, but the Second Armored Corps was eager to push just a bit farther south and cut off France from the rest of the Internationale.  As the pocket in the east formed, thirteen Japanese mobile divisions landed near Bordeaux unopposed.  Unfortunately, the pocket was brief lived, as French infantry finally began to appear to try and hold Reims. Outnumbered seven to one, they still managed to frustrate the advance of the American infantry and Japanese armor.  The Entente was finding itself with a rapidly expanding and convoluted front once again, and the destruction of the Calais pocket helped to simplify the situation.  The German military was finally appearing, redeployed from its defensive positions against Russia. While commanders in Germany itched to charge forward to Berlin, the orders came down to seek to establish defensive positions along the river Weser in order to avoid complicating matters further while the scramble for France was ongoing.    As a part of the scramble, Japanese motorized divisions captured Toulouse and moved with haste towards the home base of the Communal Navy, Marseille. There they forced the French fleet out, where the battleship Auguste Blanqui was sunk by Japanese carriers.  With Marseille captured, the second goal in the south was the capture of Lyon.  One thing that took the Entente by surprise was the arrival of German armor, clearly inspired by French designs. Conventional wisdom was that there would be too much mistrust of Germany for France to share too much technology with them, but the threat of the Entente had clearly driven France to seek to mobilize German industry to its greatest effect. The German armor took back Mainz and cut off seven highly valuable Japanese divisions to the south.  American infantry sought to create a more stable link to the cut off Japanese armor, and so attacked Verdun.  They simply could not move fast enough to keep up with the pace of modern armored warfare taking place to the east. Japanese armor in Strasbourg would soon find themselves in both a familiar and unfamiliar situation. They were outnumbered, but this was often the case. They were also, however, outnumbered by tanks, something that had never happened before to a Japanese armored division.   The division could not hold the line on its own and so it pulled back rather than continue to be swarmed by the German armor.  At the same time, Japanese motorized divisions holding the eastern approaches to Essen were under heavy attack from Hannover, and so they pulled back as well. The Entente could afford to give up space in Germany so long as they did not pull back all the way into France.   However, strings of retreats were bad for morale. Canadian armor in the Saar region was also forced to pull back from its attack on Metz before abandoning Saarbrucken altogether. The Entente, only three weeks into the conflict, felt like they were losing the initiative.  While this mood permeated the command structure, nobody was particularly afraid that they would be battled back into the sea. The problem was that the Entente was war weary and far flung, and quick victories in Europe were helping to paper over the problems in the alliance. A victory in Essen would have to do for now.  The Entente needed to destroy France and put up a united front that could push east in unison, and the arrival of 20 divisions in Bordeaux from Canada and the Pacific States put the remaining French defenders in a hopeless situation.  Everything in this phase of the war was about delaying reinforcements from France’s allies long enough to destroy France, and the Japanese motor divisions which had captured Marseille adopted a raider posture, moving to invade the Italian industrial cities of Genoa and Turin and lay waste to the infrastructure which Italy would use to reinforce their ally.  Nobody was worried about the Internationale defeating the Entente, not anymore, but there was still the risk that any of the major democracies could pull out of the war effort. A huge embarrassment could cause the collapse of a government and for ill-timed elections.  The potential that developed in Colmar of three whole Japanese armored divisions, prized constructions of the Japanese war machine, being surrounded and destroyed certainly had the potential to destroy the credibility of the Minseito.  The Japanese armor, able to be countered and delayed by the equally mobile German armor, had no choice but to bunker down in Colmar and wait to be rescued. There was an enticing potential of catching the German armor in the original pocket, but the Imperial Japanese Army, in the first time in its life as a modern mechanized force, was learning that it needed to know when to be patient and careful. Overzealous advance was giving the IJA an opportunity to snatch a brutal defeat from the jaws of certain victory.
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Dec 17, 2017 08:13
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If we get pushed out into the sea, does that mean we get another two years of JapanLP? 
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Dec 17, 2017 15:25
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I can't believe the krauts are kicking our asses
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Dec 19, 2017 02:04
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Mister Adequate posted:I can't believe the krauts are kicking our asses Yeah, where was this when the French invaded?
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Dec 19, 2017 11:50
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| # ? Jun 9, 2024 16:26 |
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Probably ought to update the front page sometime before next year, Chief. Last front-page link was to the Osaka Beach landing in Plymouth.
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Dec 24, 2017 00:48
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