Germany - HOI4 - Damn the Soviets! (I)

20 Jan 1941: I'm not prepared for this conflict but with the Allies getting involved I cannot afford to be on the outside looking in.
I need to cancel my imports from Russia and go shopping elsewhere.
I now have one foot in the door.
Now the final move. How dare they call it the Soviet-French War? The French haven't fire a single shot yet!
I send tons of the equipment which I captured last year.
There will be more. I need to keep Finland in the war so that the Soviets are kept busy. Where is Japan? This must be an excellent opportunity for them.
As you can see Germany is formally at war again, reluctantly. There are no plans at the moment and my Panzer armies are not at the frontline.
Germany does have a larger industrial base than Russia which will eventually help stem the Russian mass army but I have to buy time and that means grabbing as much Russian territory as possible. Without Panzer spearheads though it won't be Blitzkrieg but a Slugfest.
 I activate my armies.
This shows the plans of Army Group 1. You can see that many of the units are nowhere near the Russian Front.
It's even worse for Army Group 2 where most of the armour is.
Finally I can change my Conscription Law from 5% to 10% of the Recruitable Population.
Time to call Yugoslavia into the conflict. Look at the number of divisions not yet fighting....
In this screenshot 35 divisions are not at the front - only 28 are engaged in combat. A huge problem which works to the Soviet's advantage because I am giving them time to rush reinforcements to their frontline. Damn!
It is now 13:00 and there are some promising signs but if each of these battles had just one extra Panzer Division we would have broken their line to smithereens. I need to stop complaining and make the most of what I have. Good commanders for example. Unlike Joe Stalin Adolf didn't execute all his top generals.
The centre of the front is looking better. There is some armour involved and penetrations are certain.
In the south I've ordered divisions to exploit that gap in their defences. These are mostly Hungarian troops and poorly equipped compared to their Wehrmacht colleagues.
Jolly good show!
21 Jan 1941: The Soviet's turn to 'invite' allies.
They are thousands of miles away.
So is New Zealand but some British Empire troops are probably in Europe or the Middle East.
The Soviets will need all they can get when the Wehrmacht finally gets organized.
Hopefully the Allies units will be sent to Finland or maybe attack Russia in southern Asia.
A breakthrough on our left flank and Soviets appear to be making no progress in Finland. They are probably sending troops to counter my attacks.
Thankyou, Holland. Can I use my Fallschirmjäger somewhere? I forgot all about them.
The Australians are always welcome. Worry-some is that the Soviets have air superiority over Belarus.
That means I can't use airborne forces there until I remedy the situation. Hi, Canada. Is it cold enough for you?
The Raj have joined the fray too. We can call it World War II now!
22 Jan 1941: I accept the offer from the US but let's get back to reality. 34 x 75 mm guns per month when a German assault division has 120 x 105 mm guns on its TO&E. The proverbial drop in the ocean.
27 Jan 1941: We grant the French access to our territory. Note that my airborne units have captured Vitebsk, a Soviet city 100 km behind their front lines and halfway to Smolensk. That should get things moving.
28 Jan 1941: Progress in the south too but I have few reserves there.
Oops! Most of my Black Sea Fleet just got sunk. Can't win them all, folks.
Time to take a break. In the Air War Belarus is no longer a problem but we have lost air superiority in the Ukraine and the Northern Front.
I need to organize my frontline when my mobile formations finally arrive. Until then....

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