Europe Post 1918

[chris N]

The Leader of the Chinese Military had managed to keep his ego in check. He had weeded out corruption in the Military. It was surprising how fast stealing the troops pay or sending in reports of troops that did not exist came to an end after some hangings and firing squads. Still it was his command of the military which in the end also lead to Chaing kai Shek becoming the political leader of his nation.
Still the army was only able to do what it did because the Generalismo finally allowed qualified leaders to take command. It was how the Civil war was ended with the distruction of the Communist and how the Warlords were also crushed.
Still while China's Army was fairly well trained and equipped the same could not be said of the Navy. China had a very small navy. Two cruisers which were of Japanese design and some warships bought from the British and Americans. China's Air Force was small but growing. Germans and Italians had origionally trained the pilots and ground crews but now it was Americans that were training the future pilots and personnel of the Chinese Air Force.

[chris N]

September 1940 Germany's Ambassador to Serbia delivered a note to the Serbian Foreign Ministry. The note indicated that Serbia should end the War with Italy and seek a cease fire. If it did that Germany would do what it could to assure the government of Serbia that any peace settlement would be reasonable. If the Serbs continued the War Germany would break diplomatic relations as would the ACCM and Romania.
In Bulgaria the Civil War was coming to an end thanks to the arrival of German troops. Germany had deployed airborne troops into the nation and that had totally tilted the balance. The Communist uprising was crushed.

[chris N]

China was receiving the new American made P-40 fighter for its air Force. The Chinese had signed a contract earlier in the year for the purchase of 160 of the fighters plus enough spare parts to keep them operational.
American Instructors were training the Chinese in how to fly and maintain the aircraft. They were also prepared to fly combat missions if need be. The Chinese were also looking at purchasing American made bombers and transport aircraft.

[chris N]

China was seeking to modernize itself and rise from a third world country to at least a regional power. the Industrialization of China would require foreign investment and the country most likely to provide the money was the US. China was attempting to shake off the dust of the 19th century and move into the 20th Century. China's transportation system was in need of a lot of work. Railroads needed to be connected and highways built.
The Chinese Army would oversee some of these critical projects and in doing so they would also make certain that it would be useful in the mobilization and transportation of troops from one end of the nation to another.
Chaing met with the British in Northern Burma as part of a move to improve relation with China's western neighbors.

[chris N]

While China had not regained Manchuria it had received a good part of Mongolia and a piece of the Soviet Union. China had a problem in that it was lagging behind the rest of the world in a number of critical points.
To make progress China would have to increase a lot of Areas: Healthcare. The Chinese had a shortage of doctors and nurses as well as medical facilities ,2) Industrialization China had to import a lot of both consumer and industrial good for a variety of reasons., 3) the literacy rate in China left a lot to be desired. Thus the Nationalist wanted to increase the number of graduates from schools. 4 ) transportation
It was the goal of the new government to increase China's steel production over the next 5 years by 200%.

[chris N]

China was attempting to play catch up with the rest of the world and to make sure that Imperial Japan would know that any struggle with China would be very costly for that nation. Chaing wanted to see China build more of its own weapons but he also wanted to see the nation modernized.

[chris N]

Eastern Lithuania German and Polish forces had started to launch a counter offensive against the Red Army. The Reds pulled back to a prepared defensive position and so far were holding the allies.
In Romania the German Sixth Army had managed to turn the table on the Soviets. Marshal Zhukov knew that to stand and fight in Romania would be to risk all of the gains that had been made. Rommel's 7th Panzer division had punched a hole in the Soviet lines and he was about to carry out an encirclement that could see the destruction of an entire Soviet Army.

[chris N]

The weather in Europe was by early September entering a period of rainy weather. With the bad weather the Soviets were now gaining some breathing space as they went on the defensive.

[chris N]

The Soviet Union was now hoping that the Fall weather would bring rains and perhaps an early winter, If so the allied efforts to push the Red Army back would face even more obstacles. At the same time the peace agreement with Imperial Japan would mean that there was no longer a need to send addition planes and tanks to the East. Instead those resources could go toward rebuilding the Red loses in the war.

Some Ukrainians were being conscripted into the Red Army and sent to the Far East. They would help to fill out Red Army units there. The advantage being that they could not run away.

[chris N]

The Germans finally managed during a period of good weather to punch a hole through the Red army lines and open the way to Odessa German forces were able to lift the siege Rommel's Panzers had been on the move constantly since this offensive had been launched. The Man seemed to be everywhere. German motorcyle units pushed forward.

[chris N]

Weather was turning into a Soviet ally as the rains caused all troop movements to slow to a crawl. With the bad weather the allies were unable to fly air missions in support of the offensive. This was in effect buying the Soviets what they desperately needed time. Only in the south had the allies made any noteworthy gain. The break through to Odessa meant that the Ukrainian troops were now once again connected to Romania. Arms and equipment was arriving to replace the loses.

[chris N]

Odessa was now receiving supplies both by sea and by land Rommel's 7th Panzer division had relieved the city but the poor weather was preventing him and the other two divisions in the IIIrd Panzer Corps from widing the free Ukraine zone.

[Richter von Manthofen]

Just caught up after two weeks campaigning in Egypt (summer holidays - snorkeling in the Red Sea - no ancient tombs)

Which year is your campaign now?

[chris N]

It is now late September 1940 and the weather has gotten to the point that any allied offensive will go nowhere. The Red Army has been preparing a series of defensive positions . The Treaty with Japan has freed the Soviet Union of the Fear of Having to fight a two front war. Thus tanks and other equipment is replacing loses .

[chris N]

The Fall of 1940 saw some truly nasty weather. First there were the autumn rains that turned the area into a vast region of mud. Soviet forces made sure that they destroyed or removed everything that they could.
Then in October things started to improve for a time. The rains stopped and things dried out but soon it was replaced by cold, The Luftwaffe and the Romanians and Italians flew combat missions against the soviets. The primary goal was to weaken them and allow some gains. But Marshal Zhukov had been prepared. He slowed the allied forces to a crawl and then as the weather turned really bitter all operations cmae to an end.

[chris N]

The Fall and winter 0f 1940-41 did not see much military activity as it was a nasty one. The allies made some territorial gains but on the whole the Red Army kept the allies from making any major gains. During the winter the Red Army proceeded to receive new equipment and replacements. Thus the Red Army began to see its strength increase.
Italy was seeking better tanks as its army needed something better to face the Red Army with.
Finally diplomatic pressure and continued pressure from the Italian army resulted in peace talks between Italy and Serbia in Switzerland.
The winter also saw the ACCM's army receive more of the newer T-25 medium tanks. It also began to produce a new tank destroyer design.

[chris N]

The winter of 1940-41 was truly a nasty one. It was cold and snowy. Neither side found that they were capable of mounting more than a limited offensive. For the Red Army it was a period in which they were able to recover from the loses that they had suffered during the summer campaign. Soviet factories turned out more of the T-34's but for every T-34 2 of the lighter tanks were produced. The Reds also saw more of the KV heavy tanks being produced as well as some new fighter designs.
The war had seen the loss of trucks. The Soviet Union simply wasn't able to produce enough trucks to meet the needs of even just the army. Still the Soviet General staff was attempting to provide the Red army with enough tools to win the war or to at least force a peace which would see the Soviet Union retain most of what its soldiers had taken.

On the allied side the Romanians were seeking arms from Germany and were attempting to use what tanks had been captured from the Soviets to help it out. Germany had supplied Romania with 45 Pzkpf IV and 65 Pzkpf III.
The ACCMs factories were busy turning out lots of the new medium tank for its Army. It had also supplied Italy with enough of the tanks to equip a battalion in each of its armored divisions. Italy had produced more of its own assault guns armed with a 75mm gun as its tanks were obsolete. Germany granted permission for Italy to produce the PZkpf IV in Italy. So over the winter months Italian factories had turned out more than 115 of the tanks.

[chris N]

The Alliance set up a central allied Command center in Bavaria. Representatives from all of the allied nations arrived at the facility to help set up plans for the coming year . The idea was to co-ordinate military actions so as to be able to hammer the Soviet Union and end the war with the least loss of life.
Problems regarding supplies and equipment were dealt with. Among the problems was the simple fact that almost all of the Kingdom of the Ukraine's Armament industry was gone. Thus there was a problem with supplying its troops with munitions and or new weapons. The ACCM had been able to supply it with artillery ammunition and there was discussion of rearming the Infantry with either ACCM rifles or German ones.
As for tanks there was a real problem that even as both Germany and the ACCM had been increasing production the demand was greater than the supply.
Germany and the ACCM's arms experts were making suggestions to the Polish-Lithuanian Union about possible changes that could be made to their tanks. They were now regarded as Obsolete in dealing with the T-34 but still capable against the T-26 and BT-7.

[chris N]

The Red Army had also managed to replace all of its loses and bring the Army back up to full strength.
Defense were strengthen and all of the tank units were brought up to full strength. For the First time the Red army was going to attempt to put tank divisions.
The Red Air Force also was receiving some new fighter aircraft and attack aircraft but it would be months before production would reach a high enough level to make a difference.
Marshal Zhukov also met with the other front commanders in an attempt to come up with a co-ordinated strategy to deal with the threat that was sure to come.
The Red Navy had made some attempts to attack the Italian Navy in the Black Sea after it became clear that the Royal Navy was going to stay out of the affair.
On the Diplomatic front the Soviets attempted to put the pressure on the allies to agree with a peace plan that would allow the Soviets to keep almost all of their gains.

[chris N]

Spring 1941 the allies had used the winter to rebuild the Ukrainian Army and to re-equip it. The Romanian had also received new equipment.
ACCM factories were turning out lots of the new T_25 tanks and Hertzers
for itself. It had also provided the Italians with tanks for one of its armored divisions.
German arms and vehicle production was constantly increasing.