Italy - HOI4 - An Unexpected Ally

22 Mar 1942: Day 1 and we have already lost a submarine :(
Of course it would be smarter to change my fleets' missions to Search and Destroy. Everything happened so quickly.
In the Mediterranean too.
Also my fleet supporting our armed forces in East Africa.
Now that we are at war I can upgrade the Conscription Law to "Service by Requirement". That costs 150 PPs.
We are grossly outnumbered but we first can grab territory and hopefully hold it.
I now assign Army Italia a garrison mission on the other side of the border. The divisions will move there automatically.
I order General Messe's army to ignore the border battles and race northwards along the coast.
To be expected but does Joe Stalin really need them to defeat us???
Wow! The US wants to send 6 divisions plus their air support...
...also 301 75mm field guns per month. I accept of course. Is FDR from New York where all the US-Italians live?
23 Mar 1942: Now Finland wants to join in!
24 Mar 1942: Why not? More problems for Stalin in the north. It's a long way from where we are!
My air forces receive Direct Ground Support capability. Good timing.
 Now they can boost their abilities with Formation Flying.
27 Mar 1942: WTF! Who the hell is the Russian Federation???
Yep, the fleets work better if they are told to attack.
Wow! Civil War in Russia! Stalin seems to be more unpopular than we all believed. The red coloured Russia is still Soviet territory. (Georgia is Stalin's home republic.) The green is the new Russian Federation. Well I'll be damned. Italy will still be the faction leader. This is a game-changer.
We stand together indeed!
I dispatch a couple of Alpine Divisions to neutralize the Cossacks(?)
We have air superiority over the Black Sea - more good news.
28 Mar 1942: Mongolia has sided with the Soviets. Also a long way from here.
 29 Mar 1942: I order my Army Mobile to the Crimea.
I assign a piece of the front to Messe's Army Germania and order a thrust in the direction of Moscow.
I order the Army Mobile to advance to the Kiev region through the Crimean Peninsula.
We are now #2 in the world and have the largest faction (6 x 147).
In the north I plan an encirclement of Soviets troops on the Latvian front.
Finally I assign new regions in the Ukraine for Army Italia to garrison.
Well, that was an unexpected turn of events...it's early days though.

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