Sorry I haven't been super active these past few days. A little advance warning, I'm going to be away from home and computer from Thursday the 23rd to Thursday the 30th. I'll try and throw somethting up tomorrow or later today.
Operation: Unthinkable (Open/Started)
- Thread starter Teddy Roosevelt
- Start date
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Erich von Manstein poured over incoming reports. The Brits and American airforces had already begun the bombardment of the Russian positions, and his men had make contact. It was rumored that Hanz Wieldheir's Puma had taken first blood. The Puma's had been acting as fore runners and gaurds against flankers for the main German force. The Artillery had been set up once the enemy haad been located. Currently they were throwing tons of hot metal down upon their Communist enemies. The main force was formed up into three wedges, perfect for quickly smashing through enemy defenses. Each wedge was headed by the heaviest aremour the Wermacht had at their disposal. Following them were the medium and light tanks, followed up by waves of Wermacht infantry, armed with grenades along with their standard issue rifles or SMGs. Of course the men with the SMGs led the pack, with those with rifles shooting at enemies beyond the tanks. The Artilley would be adressing any threat that the tanks or infantry could not. Manstein could imagine it, the battle unfolding. The scream of descending shells, the cries for medic and sometimes mother, the death screams, the red mist that was formerly a man before he had caught a shell with his torso. It all came back to him, and he reveled in it. "In Berlin. Dann nach Moskau." Manstein muttered, smiling. The Russians would be panicked, falling back. They would have suffered heavy losses, and be shitting their pants. The triumphant Wermacht would hold Berlin once more!
Europe
May 18, 1945
Following the Allied attacks beginning in the morning, Soviet troops found themselves ill-coordinated to effectively hold their lines. The 33rd Army was the only formation whose commander had the foresight to keep his men alert, and so the detachments of Patton's 1st and 3rd Armies assigned to neutralizing the threat are held off by 12:00 noon. However, American and British air power had prevented the 33rd's commander from exploiting his position, though the Americans would surely be forced to strip their main spearheads of troops to keep the Soviets contained.
Farther north, the British 2nd Army managed to push the 70th Army back the 80km to the 65th, where British troops would depend on Canadian support to defeat, while a Polish naval assault remained entirely unexpected. Holding the Soviets south of the British was the American 9th Army, which had troops dug in along the east bank of the Elbe to engage the Soviet 3rd and 69th Armies. In addition, the Polish 1st Army reported attacks by the American 9th, but such claims, as of May 19, had not yet been confirmed.
In the north, however, it was the Second Battle of Berlin that held the focus of what could be considered the Soviet defense, though the Red Army lacked coherent information to mobilize its forces accordingly. In fact, the only things containing Zhukov's reserves around Prague were the advancing British 8th Army and American 5th Army along the Yugoslavs and Bulgarians in the Carpathian defense, and the troops of the American 7th Army and French 1st Army, who began hitting the Soviet 4th Guard Tanks, 7th Guards, and 9th Guards at approximately 1500 hours.
Unknown/acknowledged by the Red Army high command was the apparent and very rapid movement of the American 15th Army toward the still very wide gap between the two main Red Army groupings.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Battle of Berlin
May 20, 1945
Early in the day, a surprise attack by what was quickly recognized as German forces overtook the forward positions of the 1st Guards Tank and 8th Guards Armies. Manstein's armored spearheads worked well to soften the line, and in many cases the badly laid out Soviet formations only facilitated the German advance, but the soldiers of the Red Army were as they were from the counterattack at Kursk in 1943, and by many accounts the same as they were as early as Moscow in 1941: zealous, ferocious, and fearless.
As they had since the first days of Operation: Barbarossa, Soviet troops fought in relentless masses, seldom crying out when shot, and almost never retreating. 100,000 Germans orchestrated the assault, outnumbered nearly 2-to-1, but they had the element of surprise and apparent air superiority. Even so, the Soviets came upon them as aggressively as ever, even more so than they would the Americans, since the hatred for the German foe--the fascisti--continued to burn in the heart of each Soviet. Each defending man knew the horrors that his home country, nay, his Motherland, faced at the hands of the Nazis. More than 23 million soldiers and civilians died within the region encompassed by 1939 Russia alone, possibly up to 30 million in the regions now held by the Red Army. Driven by such heated loathing, the Soviets would have fought with superhuman zeal.
Should such sentiments fail to drive the men forward, the NKVD stood by, coercing Stalin's will into the hearts of the Soviet soldiers and commanders. The field officers, notoriously arrogant paramilitaries, had no purpose to fight, but rather to execute and torture those that refused to do so. Any man that retreated was shot on sight, and cowards, defeatists, and enemy sympathizers were tried and shot at any time such men were "discovered," or more commonly, suspected.
However, by 1945, the NKVD was not as necessary to drive the Soviet fighting men forward. There was untapped might in the Red Army, such that now even the floundering, battered front line troops managed to keep the Germans south of Berlin, fighting for every foot.
At Berlin, in particular, Soviet artillery batteries were so affected by Allied bombing that, despite Soviet superiority in heavy guns, German field artillery was able to set up, mainly utilizing the 15cm sFH-18 and -36 field howitzers, which served, even in their currently small numbers, as excellent long range guns as well as counter-battery artillery, which meant they could hold down Soviet guns and prevent them from lending support. Otherwise, the Germans depended on their stocks of 10.5cm leFH-18M and -18/40 light howitzers.
All-in-all, the German forces proved deadly provided they were on a constant, successful assault run, but without committed long-term support, Manstein's troops would likely fail, according to Soviet predictions, which had no need to make falsely-optimistic claims.
May 18, 1945
Following the Allied attacks beginning in the morning, Soviet troops found themselves ill-coordinated to effectively hold their lines. The 33rd Army was the only formation whose commander had the foresight to keep his men alert, and so the detachments of Patton's 1st and 3rd Armies assigned to neutralizing the threat are held off by 12:00 noon. However, American and British air power had prevented the 33rd's commander from exploiting his position, though the Americans would surely be forced to strip their main spearheads of troops to keep the Soviets contained.
Farther north, the British 2nd Army managed to push the 70th Army back the 80km to the 65th, where British troops would depend on Canadian support to defeat, while a Polish naval assault remained entirely unexpected. Holding the Soviets south of the British was the American 9th Army, which had troops dug in along the east bank of the Elbe to engage the Soviet 3rd and 69th Armies. In addition, the Polish 1st Army reported attacks by the American 9th, but such claims, as of May 19, had not yet been confirmed.
In the north, however, it was the Second Battle of Berlin that held the focus of what could be considered the Soviet defense, though the Red Army lacked coherent information to mobilize its forces accordingly. In fact, the only things containing Zhukov's reserves around Prague were the advancing British 8th Army and American 5th Army along the Yugoslavs and Bulgarians in the Carpathian defense, and the troops of the American 7th Army and French 1st Army, who began hitting the Soviet 4th Guard Tanks, 7th Guards, and 9th Guards at approximately 1500 hours.
Unknown/acknowledged by the Red Army high command was the apparent and very rapid movement of the American 15th Army toward the still very wide gap between the two main Red Army groupings.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Battle of Berlin
May 20, 1945
Early in the day, a surprise attack by what was quickly recognized as German forces overtook the forward positions of the 1st Guards Tank and 8th Guards Armies. Manstein's armored spearheads worked well to soften the line, and in many cases the badly laid out Soviet formations only facilitated the German advance, but the soldiers of the Red Army were as they were from the counterattack at Kursk in 1943, and by many accounts the same as they were as early as Moscow in 1941: zealous, ferocious, and fearless.
As they had since the first days of Operation: Barbarossa, Soviet troops fought in relentless masses, seldom crying out when shot, and almost never retreating. 100,000 Germans orchestrated the assault, outnumbered nearly 2-to-1, but they had the element of surprise and apparent air superiority. Even so, the Soviets came upon them as aggressively as ever, even more so than they would the Americans, since the hatred for the German foe--the fascisti--continued to burn in the heart of each Soviet. Each defending man knew the horrors that his home country, nay, his Motherland, faced at the hands of the Nazis. More than 23 million soldiers and civilians died within the region encompassed by 1939 Russia alone, possibly up to 30 million in the regions now held by the Red Army. Driven by such heated loathing, the Soviets would have fought with superhuman zeal.
Should such sentiments fail to drive the men forward, the NKVD stood by, coercing Stalin's will into the hearts of the Soviet soldiers and commanders. The field officers, notoriously arrogant paramilitaries, had no purpose to fight, but rather to execute and torture those that refused to do so. Any man that retreated was shot on sight, and cowards, defeatists, and enemy sympathizers were tried and shot at any time such men were "discovered," or more commonly, suspected.
However, by 1945, the NKVD was not as necessary to drive the Soviet fighting men forward. There was untapped might in the Red Army, such that now even the floundering, battered front line troops managed to keep the Germans south of Berlin, fighting for every foot.
At Berlin, in particular, Soviet artillery batteries were so affected by Allied bombing that, despite Soviet superiority in heavy guns, German field artillery was able to set up, mainly utilizing the 15cm sFH-18 and -36 field howitzers, which served, even in their currently small numbers, as excellent long range guns as well as counter-battery artillery, which meant they could hold down Soviet guns and prevent them from lending support. Otherwise, the Germans depended on their stocks of 10.5cm leFH-18M and -18/40 light howitzers.
All-in-all, the German forces proved deadly provided they were on a constant, successful assault run, but without committed long-term support, Manstein's troops would likely fail, according to Soviet predictions, which had no need to make falsely-optimistic claims.
I realize I'm doing a tad-bit of god-modding here. I don't think it was too bad, which is why I felt relatively safe doing it felling I wouldn't offend/irritate anyone here. I just feel like the writing I put down needed some information, and I could only fill the post by making some claims about what I have seen about your plans already, essentially pushing them along for you, but I needed to give this some fuel to get going, so I hope you all can forgive me.
Don't worry about it Teddy. Hey so this will be my last post for a while, so I'm putting Control of the Wermacht under direct command of Rex. Good luck boys, and I really hate to drop out of sight for a week, but hey, Its Christmas. Happy holidays
General Sikorski could only nod as positive reports continued to return. About 2 hours had now passed since the initial landing force had taken the beach almost totally unopposed. Now the 1st Armored Division, who were leading the attack, apparently controlled the entire area and were landing the last of their artillery and support. Sikorski himself had just seen off General Stanislaw Maczek who would soon be landing with his own command Cromwell tank and the rest of his command staff.
Acording to reports the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade were driving the Soviets back at high speed with the 3rd Polish Infantry Brigade in all directions. Whatever the M4 Sherman's 75 mm guns couldn't deal with was quickly eliminated by special spotter teams calling for supporting fire from the ORP Conrad's six inch guns or one of the other ships on loan from the British Home Fleet.
With everything going according to schedule Sikorski gave the order to begin landing the rest of the I Corps that would enable an extended attack against the Soviet forces. Soon the II Corps would also be able to land and begin it's trip up the Vistula River though that unit would be far more invested in securing supplies and materials then actual combat for now.
Acording to reports the 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade were driving the Soviets back at high speed with the 3rd Polish Infantry Brigade in all directions. Whatever the M4 Sherman's 75 mm guns couldn't deal with was quickly eliminated by special spotter teams calling for supporting fire from the ORP Conrad's six inch guns or one of the other ships on loan from the British Home Fleet.
With everything going according to schedule Sikorski gave the order to begin landing the rest of the I Corps that would enable an extended attack against the Soviet forces. Soon the II Corps would also be able to land and begin it's trip up the Vistula River though that unit would be far more invested in securing supplies and materials then actual combat for now.
Sorry, grammar/detail Nazi. Had to be done.Fishtie said:
...Now that I'm here... I've lost my creative ability. Fine, then. Just accept that I am taken by surprise by the landing.
By the way, Fishtie, don't forget the 65th Army, or whichever the one closest to Gdansk is.
Sorry, my turn-about's-fair-play Nazi was acting up. Besides, I thought they stopped naming cannons by weight when armor piercing heads became more important then poundage. Ehh, whatever.Teddy Roosevelt said:
As for the enemy, I thought we were landing right on top of the 19th army. The 65th is still a far march away.
And I don't know what to post really. As far as I could say, if they were really off their guard that much then I only see three real options.
1. Try and fight. Though they would get slaughtered with no defensive line, no reserves ready,no support available; against a well supplied, experienced, high moral, heavily supported attacker. Not to mention their chain of command would probably be full of holes in just the first few engagements.
2. Make a fighting retreat. They would have to abandon their heavy stuff and their support, as well as most of their munitions and supplies, but their fighting force would probably be most intact.
3. Complete rout. Probably would save the most lives, but they wouldn't have any power left to speak of afterwords.
I didn't want to chose the result for you or what their possible countermeasures would be. So I'm pretty much leaving that up to you.
Alright, guys. Let's get this going. Fishtie, watch the 19th on your march down the Vistula, and anyone else, just be more active and/or responsive, please. This can't go anywhere without actual roleplay posts. If you don't have any one day, try and post the next day. So,yeah. I can't really post anything more until you guys initiate the assault, something I have yet to see from some places along the American front and by the French.
Also, China and Australia should make their presences known in the Pacific.
Also, China and Australia should make their presences known in the Pacific.
The title says it all. ANd because I'm bored out of my skull, here's a post with all my energy poured into it.
"Sir, we have taken Berlin. We must push east with all speed if we are to support the Poles"
"Nein. I will not leave Berlin completely undefended. We will wait for the Americans to arive before we move out. Have the men dig in, and prepare for a counterattack. Bothles!" Manstien yelled, calling for his comms officer. "Get on the Gottdamm Telephone and ask those lazy Americans when they plan on getting here. We're sitting ducks out here."
"Ja, Generalfieldmarshall. Right away."
Manstein brooded over his maps. By now the Poles would be going down the Vistula, and the Brits would have engaged all forces north of Berlin. The main Soviet host would be fighting the AMerican 9th.
"Hoffles!" Manstein cried out for his Troop Co-ordinator. "Have the men dig in in three concentric circles. innermost will be the artillery. Second line will be the remaining armour and AA guns. Outermost line the actual men. Have a reserve of 40 tanks ready to support any breach in the defenses. The Puma's will be used to harass any approaching forces. Get to it. I have a war to win!"
Ah, here is one of the things I am here for! Alright, what you did there was you basically assumed victory. Thing is, these kinds of things rely on the defender and only the defender to decide when they retreat. That, topped with the fact that not everyone has posted yet (France, we need you, man) means that, as far as the Berlin defense is concerned, you wouldn't have actually reached Berlin proper yet, let alone taken it. Really, we would still be on May 20 for the Berlin battle, and the 18/19 for the rest of the front, because it is still the beginning.Icarion said:
Frustrating, but we can't do anything well without the full load of players playing.
So, what do I do? Do I jsut wait for all the otehrs to post? And then my post goes into effect? Or something entirely different?Teddy Roosevelt said:
Unfortunately, yes. Whether you think this or not, I am just going to address the fact that it would seem that I am working only for myself when I talk about the fairness of assuming victory and so forth, and I can't really berate anyone for doing anything unless they do it to me, so... You see where i am coming from, I think, but we still need to be very orderly about our roleplaying, because I have seen threads on Facebook Nations that turn into people grasping at a way to cut the biggest gash into the other guy because they all say they won their battle. Before you know it, the whole thing falls apart because everyone is getting annoyed that their well trained divisions got crushed because their Supreme Commander tripped and broke his neck and the whole army fell into ruin. Not exactly that, but you get my point. This will seem like a grind at first, but things get very exciting when everyone learns the steps and gets into the rhythm. Anyway, yes, you just need to wait until you have something to respond to, and I must do the same, meaning we need more people to be active. I'm getting right on that.Icarion said:
Sorry everyone, I took the Christmas and New Year celebratory period off. Trust me though, I have no intention of flaking out on this game.
That said, I have a couple questions.
1) I control the single Canadian army on the board right? Where do you (roosevelt) consider the army to be? I said something about moving it forward to catch up with the rest of us in the inital planning period but I hadn't considered to say that I was actually moving it up. Is it currently caught up with us (That is to say, around the America 9th) or do I need to spend a turn getting it in line?
2) I forced the Soviet 70th into a retreat and am now even with it around the Soviet 65th, right? How complete was the retreat? Did they leave their tanks and artillery behind, rendering them a basically unsupported infantry force or do they still have some punch to them? either way, I'm assuming they radio'ed the 65th either during retreat or on their way out and that army is now prepared for my arrival, right? Am I already engaged with the 65th?
3) If Soviet tanks were abandoned at the former location of the 70th, what condition are they in and are there any significant obstacles to them being taken and piloted by non-Soviet soldiers?
4) Any significant casualties on my side? Or am I basically in fine condition?
That said, I have a couple questions.
1) I control the single Canadian army on the board right? Where do you (roosevelt) consider the army to be? I said something about moving it forward to catch up with the rest of us in the inital planning period but I hadn't considered to say that I was actually moving it up. Is it currently caught up with us (That is to say, around the America 9th) or do I need to spend a turn getting it in line?
2) I forced the Soviet 70th into a retreat and am now even with it around the Soviet 65th, right? How complete was the retreat? Did they leave their tanks and artillery behind, rendering them a basically unsupported infantry force or do they still have some punch to them? either way, I'm assuming they radio'ed the 65th either during retreat or on their way out and that army is now prepared for my arrival, right? Am I already engaged with the 65th?
3) If Soviet tanks were abandoned at the former location of the 70th, what condition are they in and are there any significant obstacles to them being taken and piloted by non-Soviet soldiers?
4) Any significant casualties on my side? Or am I basically in fine condition?
Khedive Rex said:
Well, and this is even more the case when we lack the posts required to keep moving on the strategic scale, we have yet to really fight out the battles between the Americans and Soviets, or rather the Western Allies in general.
1.) The position of your Canadians depends on a few things. We know generally where it starts. However, depending on what day we are on, and it is different for most of the spearheads, since, for the sake of getting to the fighting right away, it is the 20th for the Germans, and the 19th for the Poles. Also, whether or not you began moving the Canadians prior to the 18th means something, and at what speed. I will get back to you soon on a reasonable time table regarding this.
2.) Right now, there has been no retreat. First of all, only the one afflicted by an offensive decides the results, meaning I need to declare a retreat before it can be considered canon. Secondly, we are just now kicking off the offensives. The fighting has just started, and we should consider ourselves in the very first pieces of the opening phase of the opening phase, if you get my meaning. Also, keep in mind that war at this time is not made up of many short, snipped battles, like it would in medieval Europe, where some isolated armies would fight and have a result after several hours. Battles now can last for days on end, sometimes weeks. It is likely that you will be fighting the 70th continuously, slowly pushing them back to the 65th over a period of days. How successful you are depends on the actual fighting. However, as you said you are not strong in the actual fighting of war, and I know something about British tactics at the time, I can help you out if you want me to.
3.) If Soviet tanks are captured by your troops, then take into account their condition. If they are simply abandoned, then they are in fine condition, but good luck finding the tank of a retreated Soviet crew with morale high and the NKVD still active. Such is the nature of the Soviet soldier. Anyway, next thing to consider is that if you recover a lightly damaged tank, you can take it, but Soviet tanks use different parts than British tanks. Maintenance will be difficult, even for routine repairs. Training your men shouldn't be a big deal, since the T-34 is made to be very bare-bones and simple so men can be deployed rapidly with little training. However, they are far from comfortable, as they are built completely for practicality, so they are cold as hell in winter, and built with little consideration for the crew, so your men may not be intent on driving a Soviet tank. Finally, you need to consider ammunition. most of your tanks use the 75mm main gun, but your Sherman Firefly tanks do use the 17-pounder, which is a 76.2mm anti-tank shell. The T-35 Model 1943 uses the 76.2mm F-34 gun, which has the same caliber gun, but chambered for a different type of 76.2mm shell, not a longer armor-piercing one. So, the majority of your available ammo is 75mm, while you can convert some of your 17-pounder sources to produce ammo compatible with the F-34, but that is not advisable. Ideally, you'd need to feed on captured Soviet supply depots for the F-34 gun. All-in-all, while captured tank were known to see action, they were rarer than you may think.
4.) Casualties on your side are decided by you, of course, assuming you hold yourself to an honor system. Just pay attention to the way your battles are fought and think accordingly. How any men would it take to defeat this kind of attack, and then this one, etc.
1.) The position of your Canadians depends on a few things. We know generally where it starts. However, depending on what day we are on, and it is different for most of the spearheads, since, for the sake of getting to the fighting right away, it is the 20th for the Germans, and the 19th for the Poles. Also, whether or not you began moving the Canadians prior to the 18th means something, and at what speed. I will get back to you soon on a reasonable time table regarding this.
2.) Right now, there has been no retreat. First of all, only the one afflicted by an offensive decides the results, meaning I need to declare a retreat before it can be considered canon. Secondly, we are just now kicking off the offensives. The fighting has just started, and we should consider ourselves in the very first pieces of the opening phase of the opening phase, if you get my meaning. Also, keep in mind that war at this time is not made up of many short, snipped battles, like it would in medieval Europe, where some isolated armies would fight and have a result after several hours. Battles now can last for days on end, sometimes weeks. It is likely that you will be fighting the 70th continuously, slowly pushing them back to the 65th over a period of days. How successful you are depends on the actual fighting. However, as you said you are not strong in the actual fighting of war, and I know something about British tactics at the time, I can help you out if you want me to.
3.) If Soviet tanks are captured by your troops, then take into account their condition. If they are simply abandoned, then they are in fine condition, but good luck finding the tank of a retreated Soviet crew with morale high and the NKVD still active. Such is the nature of the Soviet soldier. Anyway, next thing to consider is that if you recover a lightly damaged tank, you can take it, but Soviet tanks use different parts than British tanks. Maintenance will be difficult, even for routine repairs. Training your men shouldn't be a big deal, since the T-34 is made to be very bare-bones and simple so men can be deployed rapidly with little training. However, they are far from comfortable, as they are built completely for practicality, so they are cold as hell in winter, and built with little consideration for the crew, so your men may not be intent on driving a Soviet tank. Finally, you need to consider ammunition. most of your tanks use the 75mm main gun, but your Sherman Firefly tanks do use the 17-pounder, which is a 76.2mm anti-tank shell. The T-35 Model 1943 uses the 76.2mm F-34 gun, which has the same caliber gun, but chambered for a different type of 76.2mm shell, not a longer armor-piercing one. So, the majority of your available ammo is 75mm, while you can convert some of your 17-pounder sources to produce ammo compatible with the F-34, but that is not advisable. Ideally, you'd need to feed on captured Soviet supply depots for the F-34 gun. All-in-all, while captured tank were known to see action, they were rarer than you may think.
4.) Casualties on your side are decided by you, of course, assuming you hold yourself to an honor system. Just pay attention to the way your battles are fought and think accordingly. How any men would it take to defeat this kind of attack, and then this one, etc.
Wait, so the fighting hasn't happened yet? Awesome. I prefer it that way. I was just going by one post you made that made it sound like it was already over.
If the fight is still in progress, should I post a message about how my initial assualt is arranged?Teddy Roosevelt said:
Li Zongren pushed open the heavy oak doors, they creaked at the hinges giving away their age, he mused that they had been around for several generations of Chinese leaders to walk through them, but he did not have time to think, clutch against his chest was a neat brown document.
He walked into the meeting room, around a long table several uniformed men yelled across the table at one another, thick cigar smoke filled the air, the KMT and CPC could rarely agree on anything, there ideology and tactics were polar oposites, it was only through the iron hand that both the faction leaders had over their followers that kept this "alliance" going.
The shouting faded suddenly as Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the KMT, silenced them with the slight of his hand and waved Zongren towards him and Mao Zedong leader of the CPC. Zongren placed the Document infront of them as the erie silence continued save for the occasional sound of a page turn. The silence continued as Kai-shek slid the document to Zedong, Zongren felt as though he had been standing for several hours. Zedong closed the document, the silence was broken as he uttered but three words "Its has begun".
The effect was instant as the generals murrmured and looked at one another as one of the generals spoke up
"What! so soon?!"
"of course Cheng, Churchill is but rabid dog and his old master Roosevelt yearned for war"
"Yes but surely Tru-"
"Truman is no better! our mistake was assuming he would be hesistant until we could prepare for this eventuality"
The argument contined as more generals joined in, one general flicked through the small document
"It says here that a German force is assisting them?"
"Hah, they ally with an old enemy?"
"and the old ally of Imperial Japan no less!"
"enough!" Kai-Sheks voice cut through the talking "Although the Allies may have put our plans in motion sooner than intended we cannot forget what we have to gain"
"indeed" Mao chimed in "while the Capitalist West and Stalinist East burn, China shall rise, but in order for this to pass we must act in unison, we cannot allow chinese affairs to be influenced by outsiders any longer"
Kai-shek continued "We had estimated the war to begin in December next year, due to this error The Great Economic Industrialisation plans are not complete and we will not be able to supply our armies effectively, to this end we will need to rely on the USA or USSR for our Military supply, we intend to receive them from both for as long as possible"
Mao looked across the table, the look of confusion on the generals faces clear "allow me to explain, for as long as China stays neutral both the USSR and USA will attempt to align us to them, we can exploit this, of course our interests in Japan will cause a clash between us and the USSR, it was an unforseen tragedy that Japan would opt to become a puppet, it complicated matters, we have no use for the barren land of the East Soviet land, none the less, Japan is vital to accelerate the Industrial plans and will be ours"
Kai-shek turned to Zongren who was still standing "you shall speak with the USSR, extend our grief that yet another unjust war has been launched against them, reassure them about the Sino-soviet pact, extend our gratitude for their assistance in the previous war and enquire about purchase of Military weapon, we must stay out of the war as long as possible to allow the Industrial plans to take effect"
"as for you Cheng" Mao added "you will go to America and extend the same condolences and ask that the American supplies continue to be sent"
"yes sirs!"
"and Cheng, request ship transports, lots of transports"
He walked into the meeting room, around a long table several uniformed men yelled across the table at one another, thick cigar smoke filled the air, the KMT and CPC could rarely agree on anything, there ideology and tactics were polar oposites, it was only through the iron hand that both the faction leaders had over their followers that kept this "alliance" going.
The shouting faded suddenly as Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the KMT, silenced them with the slight of his hand and waved Zongren towards him and Mao Zedong leader of the CPC. Zongren placed the Document infront of them as the erie silence continued save for the occasional sound of a page turn. The silence continued as Kai-shek slid the document to Zedong, Zongren felt as though he had been standing for several hours. Zedong closed the document, the silence was broken as he uttered but three words "Its has begun".
The effect was instant as the generals murrmured and looked at one another as one of the generals spoke up
"What! so soon?!"
"of course Cheng, Churchill is but rabid dog and his old master Roosevelt yearned for war"
"Yes but surely Tru-"
"Truman is no better! our mistake was assuming he would be hesistant until we could prepare for this eventuality"
The argument contined as more generals joined in, one general flicked through the small document
"It says here that a German force is assisting them?"
"Hah, they ally with an old enemy?"
"and the old ally of Imperial Japan no less!"
"enough!" Kai-Sheks voice cut through the talking "Although the Allies may have put our plans in motion sooner than intended we cannot forget what we have to gain"
"indeed" Mao chimed in "while the Capitalist West and Stalinist East burn, China shall rise, but in order for this to pass we must act in unison, we cannot allow chinese affairs to be influenced by outsiders any longer"
Kai-shek continued "We had estimated the war to begin in December next year, due to this error The Great Economic Industrialisation plans are not complete and we will not be able to supply our armies effectively, to this end we will need to rely on the USA or USSR for our Military supply, we intend to receive them from both for as long as possible"
Mao looked across the table, the look of confusion on the generals faces clear "allow me to explain, for as long as China stays neutral both the USSR and USA will attempt to align us to them, we can exploit this, of course our interests in Japan will cause a clash between us and the USSR, it was an unforseen tragedy that Japan would opt to become a puppet, it complicated matters, we have no use for the barren land of the East Soviet land, none the less, Japan is vital to accelerate the Industrial plans and will be ours"
Kai-shek turned to Zongren who was still standing "you shall speak with the USSR, extend our grief that yet another unjust war has been launched against them, reassure them about the Sino-soviet pact, extend our gratitude for their assistance in the previous war and enquire about purchase of Military weapon, we must stay out of the war as long as possible to allow the Industrial plans to take effect"
"as for you Cheng" Mao added "you will go to America and extend the same condolences and ask that the American supplies continue to be sent"
"yes sirs!"
"and Cheng, request ship transports, lots of transports"
So as of right now, the Germans (me) are on the 20th and have taken Berlin, correct? Where as the others have yet to engage? Just slightly lost. Sorry. If so, do I have to do teh casualty report and all?