Italy - HOI4 - War Against the Soviets (I)

21 Apr 1942: The Soviets had over 350 divisions. Where are they all? Answer: The Russian Federation took half of them
24 Apr 1942: Progress in Crimea. The bulk of my armour has yet to cross the Kerch Straits.
25 Apr 1942: Breakout mood on the Latvian Front. We need to link up with the main forces before the Germans do.
I order a massive thrust towards Moscow.
26 Apr 1942: Unfortunate timing!
The Russians aren't attacking...
27 Apr 1942: Have another cup of tea, old chap. We'll defeat communism without you!
In southwest Europe though the communists are advancing. At least there is some German resistance now.
Georgia has been occupied so I select a dozen divisions which are furthest from the frontline and assign them to my Army Training in the Alps.
Off they go!
We are making progress but I am worried about the Finns. They are taking a lot of casualties for a small nation.
Army Italia now only has to garrison forward areas. Mainly the Ukraine.
Looking good.
30 Apr 1942: Hungary appears to be tired of living.
I reject their demands.
Meanwhile in the west a major naval victory against the Spaniards.
05 May 1942 and the Army Mobile is breaking out of Crimea to liberate the Ukrainians from the Soviet yoke.
A few divisions will link up with Germans coming from Romania. Where are the Soviets?
06 May 1942 and the Germans appear to have captured Kiev.
The Central Front southwest of Moscow.
10 May 1942: I order our two armies to link up.
12 May 1942: Still work in progress.
13 May 1942: An important decision has to be made. I order my Army Mobile back to Italy.
I also convert the light TD battalion into a medium TD battalion.
I can't do that at the frontline but now is a convenient time. 
I also convert the remaining old divisions to the new armoured division template. So if the Spaniards want to mess with them well good luck.
Italian casualties are surprisingly low....
16 May 1942: We are at the gates of Moscow and as you can see there 48 Italian division spear-heading north.
20 May 1942: The research of Landing Craft has finished. (I forgot to screenshot a 2nd project completing,)
I modernize my air forces by researching the C.202 Folgore fighter...
...and the SM.84 naval bomber.
That's all for this post. Moscow is the menu next time...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Italy - HOI4 -Setting up (I)

Image
Welcome to a new game as Italy. Unlike Australia, Italy is already at war with Abyssinia, it is a fascist nation and has much larger armed forces. However, Mussolini came to power a dozen years before Hitler and his large military is equipped with WW1 equipment, he has only one good general who can't be everywhere at the same time and Mussolini is an idiot. Not the best pre-requisites to build a global empire. But we have to make do with what we have....so here is Italy at the start. I create an Alpine army and give them a fairly good commander then...  ...order them to a port. They are going to Abyssinia. I grab the rest of the army...  ...assign a lousy commander then...  ...order them to the Austrian border to remind Hitler that we also have plans for the alpine nation. In Eritrea we do the same...  .but this army gets the good general, Giovanni Messe. The Abyssinian troops are red because they are the enemy. Now the same again in Somali...
Read more

Germany - HOI4 - Looking Eastwards

Image
18 Nov 1936: Research on Concentrated Industry II has completed. I choose to research the SP-AT Marder II which will make something useful out of my useless Pz. Is and Pz. IIs. 05 Dec 1936: The doctrine Delay is selected. The +15% organization is very useful. I also spend 150 PPs on Henschel tank designers with emphasis on speed and reliability 08 Dec 1936: I upgrade 8 more infantry divisions. 16 Dec 1936: The focus KdF-Wagen is completed. I choose Treaty with the USSR next - a joint tank design venture. I also deploy another 8 infantry divisions. 19 Dec 1936: AT-gun development has been completed. Time to develop a Fallschirmjäger force. 27 Dec 1936: Two fully trained motorized infantry divisions are assigned to Guderian's new Panzerarmee. I say new because the forces used against Austria were barely a Corps-sized unit and in need of reform. A couple of days later the SP-AT Marder II becomes available. I select the doctrine Dive Bombing ...
Read more

Germany - HOI4 - A New Perspective

Image
    What I like about playing Germany is thanks to Versailles Treaty all German forces actually begin in Germany. No colonies, no foreign wars so no scrolling around the world. A recent update to HOI4 introduced a Focus Tree which allows an alternative path for Germany without Hitler. Selecting Oppose Hitler plunges Germany into a civil war; Wehrmacht versus Nazis. If the Wehrmacht prevails the options pictured below are available. Unfortunately Germany can't go around conquering Europe instead has to wait for the war to come to him - somewhat boring. This is the more 'historical' path, i.e. the Nazis are in power and have more opportunities coupled with more disadvantages. Only a handful of nations like Nazis... So let's try to make the most of this dilemma. (I won't be giving such a detailed narrative in this campaign - hopefully those who have followed my previous campaigns have already grasped the basics.) First I need to set up my research project...
Read more