Okay, first of all, yes, yes, yes I know I always plays as Germany, well I just think this game is defined around them, and you can not play many of the other nations in single player with as much fun as you can with Germany. The only exception is Russia to this rule, but I am still yet trying for the Axis to conquer the world as my last saved game failed. So I am now trying it again with ICE. Now I am a little late on the AAR, I will try to catch you up on what has happened so far and I will also try to get some screen shots ready from the previous times. Okay the plan here is to take the world with any that wish to join the Axis. The main focus from 1936 to 1939 was simply raising infantry and tank divisions with the usually attachments to each unit, as well of course as the build up of the Navy which will eventually take part in the Channel crossing. The first ever tech started is always the techs to learn Nuclear weapons, they are usually 3 years behind, but it gives me a great head start. Garrison divisions were built and allocated to the "North Germany Defense" Army, designed to spread out across the top of Germany in case of a seaborne invasion. Austria was annexed, and I noticed that in the ICE version of HOI, you actually get the entire Austrian army currently employed, these men I left in Austria to defend against the southern borders. Czechoslovakia was also taken with no fighting and Slovakia was created. September 1939 would have seen the start of ww2, however the delayment of a month was essential to the defenses on the Western front. The eventual battle started on 30th of October, some 1 month or so after the historical date, the Polish stood no chance, and no real feats occurred either for or against my Forces, Poland was annexed some 26 days later with it being split between myself and Russia, with the agreement signed. From there came the rush to get my forces back across the country to the up and coming war with France and the low lands, with of course a small force left on the Eastern front as a buffer should the Russians break the agreement. In december 1939 Italy still was not part of the Axis forces, and actually dared to say to Germany, "we will not join the Axis until Paris falls" This has lead me to take France alone.
On Feburary 1940 the battle began for West Europe, with my tanks crushing straight through Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and into Northern France. The armies were split into 3 Armies, with around 500,000 men, 4 Panzer Armies consisting of 16 Panzer Divisions with the make of usually 1 Panzer Regiments, 1 Light Panzer Regiment, 2 Motorized Infantry, and a supporting artillery or TD brigade. split between the two Most northern armies, by this time I was already able to out fit 5 Regiments to every Division, my land doctines all numbered 3 or 4, my tanks and relevant infantry were also all 1942 troops, and my planes were 1940, a good force. There were few pockets of large resistance and Paris feel by Late France, I seem to have hit the allies with that much force and speed I was able to encircle Paris before they had time to move troops from the south or the Maginot line. Halfway from Paris to the Maginot line on a long river is where most of the fighting happened with me losing most of my losses in these areas. My tanks pushed across the West and South West almost with no resistance, in fact the northern army actually hit the Atlantic on the west of France without a shot fired. My forces continued to push south with the small pockets encircled and the Maginot Line cut off, it was only a matter of time. I had taken around 80% of the country when Italy finally agreed to join the Axis and declare war on France, from here she began her war in the South of france, where only 1 French Divisions was present, and further south in Nth Africa. France finally surrendered to Germany on August the 6th 1940, it took this long because the tanks had out stripped the infantry, and spent most of the time just running back and forth catching the French Providences. My Naval exhibitions were minimal as the RN was strong, but with the Bismarck being flanking the Flag ship Graf Zeppelin, they continued to harass the RN and were even sinking ships, the less could be said for the very unsuccessful Uboat patrols or those of the Auxiliary convoy raiders. Next post will be about the Beginning of the end for Great Britain.
From the beginning of May to August the reorganization of the Western armies took place, with some armies being sent to the South of Germany for the eventual invasion of the Balkan countries. Late May saw the joining of the Japaneses and the Romanian governments to the Axis forces, and the uneventful invasions of both Norway and Denmark, both fell within the week as Marines poured into their cities. For the up and coming invasion of England saw the deployment of 15 transport ships, 3 Fallshirmjaeger divisions, and entire Marine Army or 4 Marine divisions each mixed with Assault Engineers, Joining there men in the invasion would be 1 Infantry Division and a quick support only once a beach head is established 2 Panzer Armies. The Plan: Planned for August, the plan is simple, drop the Paratroops with 1 commando brigade South and east of London, but north of Dover, cutting Dover of from the rest of the country. The Marine army will head straight for Dover, devastated by the Luftwaffe this area is only held by 1 division of militia troops. Once bridge heads are secured and Dover port is captured the tanks will roll in all 19 Divisions, from there one tank division will push straight for London, and then onto Birmingham, while the other engages the bulk of the English army in and around Portsmouth. Preparation: The Navy has been patrolling the seas with plenty of luck, sinking 2 RN battleships, and a carrier, this seems to have lowered the amount of RN ships in the area, and now the only problems are the RN aircraft constantly harassing my ships. The Luftwaffe has already devastated the RAF, and has put all the southern airfields out of commission thus virtually eliminating the RAF as a real threat. Reserves: If for some reason reserves are needed for the BoB, then there is 2 Infantry Armies awaiting simply the word go, to launch into Britain, as the rest of the Armies have already been push east, and Garrison troops have taken there places on the shores of France, with only a few divisions left as buffer zones should an invasion break through I doubt this however as the Garrison troops have proven themselves many times in defending shore lines. The Enemy: Well the RN is piecemeal at best with the exception of the RN air force. The Army according to my Luftwaffe aircraft constantly performing attacks on England, suggests that the majority of the defending infantry units are militia units probably because the main BEF was lost in France. The RAF is for all in tense and purposes grounded. I will update this will some screenshots and then the conclusion to this
Nice. It sounds like you are running a slightly older version of the ICE Mod. In the latest version (see my current Italy AAR) the Italians join the Axis in 1936 through the Rome-Berlin Pact. Did you notice if Russia actually invaded Poland? In previous versions of HOI, Russia never sends troops into Poland. In the Axis ICE game I am playing, Russia did invade Poland and took its provinces by force, even with the Ribbentrop Pact signed. I thought this was quite good (as it did happen IRL). Looking forward to some screenshots. Check your Checksum next time you launch the ICE mod and see what 4-letters it gives you. I will check mine tonight.
I did see the Rome-Berlin pact event pop up, but I chose to wait, I didn't want to be brought into an Italian war if they decided to attack England in Nth Africa, and yes Russia came flying over there borders at Poland.
OKay, because I rely on the autosave while I play the game, except of course when I exit the game, there is only a few saves, I didn't worry about Poland and the early years, and there wasn't one of the low countries, but some from the beginning of the Invasion of France, so I will take it from there. The extent of my land Doctrine research. Any one with a reasonable idea of the area between Belguim and France will be able to see the depth of the advance in such a short time. Here you can see Paris has fallen and the centre line is filled with my tanks, on left screen you can not see them but there is another tank army there. The hardest section of the front to conquer, these troops would just not moved, and it ended up with them being surrounded. The Maginot line in the beginning of August just before the surrender of the French army in France. Once the line had broken, the French army fell apart and my forces rushed south to capture all the victory points and destroy the rest of the French army, you can also see the Italian army has finally began their advance into France, taking only a few Providences. Future SS units readying for deployment to Russia. September. The Marine Army that took both Denmark and Norway, only supported by 4 luftwaffe squadrons and 1 infantry Corp that hit Narvik, this Marine unit was later deployed to Northern France for the Invasion of England.
Okay now for the Invasion of England and events surrounding the same day of the 12th of September 1940. The actual invasion of England started on the 1st of September with initial deployment of the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe troops into England, followed a day later by the Seaborne troops. The Graf Spee and here mighty career to date, and her great attempts at defending transport units crossing the Channel. The invasion. The Invasion went perfect, with the Paratroopers landing and cutting of Dover, allowing the marines to take the port, and the tanks to begin landing. You can see the tanks already have taken the ill defended London and are pushing NOrth to take Birmingham. The second army is currently in Portsmouth and is about to Push West into those areas and cut those troops off. You can see more clearly the objectives in this shot. As this is where I am up to I will be able to update this more frequently now, and more in more detail. Also to keep you informed of the other fronts, all new troops produced are now being deployed to the Eastern front or the Balkan area. 2 armies redeploying to the Balkans for the invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece perhaps Hungary and Bulgaria as well. In the stack is also 1 French tank army consisting of captured French Tanks after the fall of France, an interesting touch in the ICE expansion.
All reports from the front indicate the English will capitulate soon enough, the battle for Birmingham has been fought and won with a number of Luftwaffe units falling to the still unbeaten RAF. The English forces in Wales have been decimated, the Southern Forces near Portsmouth were pushed back to the peninsular, and finally the Northern Units have entered Scotland and are a mere step from North Ireland. The front 2 weeks into the Invasion. you can see the majority of the English forces were attempting to defend the entry to Wales, they failed and were eventually surrounded and destroyed near the coast. You can also see the Falling back of the English Southern forces. A mighty victory for the Kriegsmarine in sinking the pride of the Royal Navy, good on the Admiral Scheer and her crew. Sadly however the Admiral Scheer was sunk only a few days later in the same area of sea attempting to hold the English in their last Southern port. The collapse of the Northern English defensive line, as two panzer units rush through the open gaps in the line, as well as Marine Division captures a near by port, thus cutting of the North from the South enveloping the Welsh territories and the troops defending it. Further collapse of the Northern Line. You can see the tanks have pushed too far ahead, and were forced to wait for the Marine infantry to catch up before advancing. Almost 2 months after the beginning of the invasions, German troops push further into Scotland and are currently on the steps of the Highlands and a mere stone's throw away from Ireland. The English were able to consolidate there troops in this area and gained some sort of composure, this is the latest report from the north. 11 days before the latest report, this is the recon photo of the English attempts at retreat in the South of England, you can see the massive English fleet in the sea, this fleet caused must chaos amongst my Navy, and effectively ported them for good. This was also the fleet which sunk the Admiral Scheer which was responsible for sinking the Nord, the Pride of the Royal Navy. Once the english were pushed to the sea, they amazingly began a retreat onto the boats waiting out to sea. Upon realizing what was happening I sent all available vessels and Aircraft to the providence and sea lane to attempt to destroy as many troops and transport ships as possible, unfortunately there were three CV's and a strong air force that must have been coming from North Ireland, and my forces suffered badly. The battle continues from here.
England at long last has fallen with the loss of there entire army on the island. As my troops pushed into Scotland they were hit with extreme supply problems as the royal navy continued to harass my supply lines from Germany, this I eventually maintained and once scarpa flow had fallen the remainder of the enemies troops falling was only a matter of time. Scarpa was captured by 2 airborne regiments landing on the island, they battled for a number of days against a single garrison unit which was no match for the elite troops. The next step from here was redeploying the bulk of my troops to the Eastern front, except one army in north Ireland in preparation of the invasion of the south. The current situation on the Eastern front is this, nearly 1,000,000 men stand guard ready to invade Russia who has begun mobilization of their forces. The campaign in Yugoslavia I left to the computer to wage, this it did with surprisingly efficiency taking all the objectives and in the end forcing them to surrender within a month, I then annexed their nation. Shortly after Bulgaria and Hungary both joined the Axis forces, and the war into Greece followed shortly after. While Greece was contested, I moved 2 paratrooper regiments from England to Morrocco (Nth Africa) for the invasion of Gibraltar. This airborne invasion followed a few days after their arrival, and the battle waged their for a number of days with neither side getting any advantage. The end result was my forced deployment of 1 division of marines stationed in Africa. With the fall of Gibraltar came the invasion of the North Africa against the British forces in the desert. The Italian troops just like historically were greatly losing against the British forces, and this called for German troops to assist. I accepted the event "Afrika Korp" and the Afrika Korp was established with Rommel at its head. I didn't take any screenies of the victories here, but I will take some of the latest dates.
I haven't forgotten about this thread, I have just been so preoccupied and forgetful in taking screen shots. A quick few updates. Africa Korp formed, reinforced with 2 infantry and 1 tank division from Greece has stopped just east of tobruk and the battle is at a standstill Finland joined the Axis forces and all forces from Yugoslavia and Greece mainly aroun 120,000 men moved to the Finnish and Russian border. War decalred against Germany by the Soviet Union, Finland refuses to join the fight and German troops in Finland are forced to retreat to available Finnish ports to attempt to join the fight in East Poland.
