There is bound to be a pretty severe political crisis within free Greece around 1942-43 over the status of the monarchy. I expect George II will be forced to agree to a referendum before returning from... London right after liberation of the mainland and Sofoulis/Papandreou or Kafanntaris spirited out along with Pangalos from the mainland to head government and army respectively . As for the resistance you are having operation Midas on steroids here and multiple republican resistance groups in OTL destroyed and absorbed by ELAS still around thanks to an earlier start and aid from Crete. The very fact that you remove the republicans from EAM from Grigoriadis and Sarafis downwards will have huge effects on the relative balance of power. And on the relationship between ELAS and the rest on the field.
Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2
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There is bound to be a pretty severe political crisis within free Greece around 1942-43 over the status of the monarchy. I expect George II will be forced to agree to a referendum before returning from... London right after liberation of the mainland and Sofoulis/Papandreou or Kafanntaris spirited out along with Pangalos from the mainland to head government and army respectively . As for the resistance you are having operation Midas on steroids here and multiple republican resistance groups in OTL destroyed and absorbed by ELAS still around thanks to an earlier start and aid from Crete. The very fact that you remove the republicans from EAM from Grigoriadis and Sarafis downwards will have huge effects on the relative balance of power. And on the relationship between ELAS and the rest on the field.
The Greek heavy cruiser... what heavy cruiser? Of course in OTL the Greeks were looking for a shipyard prewar to build a super-heavy cruiser, tried to buy HMS York and two cruisers from the US in 1940-41 before the fall of Greece and were pushing for at least one modern cruiser afterwards. Have they gotten one or two ships TTL (likely names Helli and Lemnos) thanks to the greater production runs?
Isn't uncle George a bit too slow to be operating that close to enemy airfields as opposed to say convoy protection? At a minimum it would had needed to be modernized with fire control radar and way more anti-air guns than her pre-war modernizations had given it. Either way Greece will be looking for a modern cruiser as well from either Britain or the US. Something can be lend leased hopefully?
For shore bombardment, he is fast enough as the R's and US standards can't out run him.
The inclusion of this ship for this operation is as much political as military.
Narwhal's actually been around for a few years, but accessibility may depend on where you live (I'm about an hour from their brewery). I prefer Lagunitas or North Coast, myself.
I'm in Maryland and that's the first time I've seen that one. I'm obviously familiar with Sierra Nevada Brewing but it's a first that specific brew.
Driftless
Donor
I'm in Wisconsin, and I see Sierra Nevada's bigger movers, but not the smaller sales types. Of course, that's the universal law of supply and demand at work...
Story 2140
Rzhev, Russia July 22, 1943
Another explosion brought down a warehouse. The girders were mangled and the roof was now being lit on fire as the exhausted quartermasters and truck drivers began to toss molotov cocktails at the debris field. A few hundred yards away, the river was being blocked. A seventh barge had been scuttled in the Volga. Another three or four barges would be needed to complete a cataract near the horseshoe bend. The airfield was aflame. The last transport aircraft had left the night before carrying forty three men when it was rated to only carry seventeen in its current condition. Half a dozen fighters and a dozen fighter bombers had flown combat missions since early morning from the airfield just outside the city. The bombers would take-off, fly fifteen minutes to the front, fling their bombs at an advancing Russian column and strafe any exposed infantry. An hour later, they would repeat that mission. Already three had been shot down. The fighters were struggling to provide cover for the retreat.
Seventeen miles south of the city, a battle group built around a company of panzers and the haphazard remnants of a regiment of panzer grenediers reinforced with cooks, drivers and mechanics retreated again. Two full strength Red Army tank brigades had been delayed in a short battle. The Russian artillery had been caught flat footed as they had pounded a perfect position eight hundred yards behind the incredibly imperfect delaying position that the invaders had taken for their stand. A five minute hurricane bombardment went overhead and caused almost no harm when the first anti-tank gun fired. Seven long barrelled Panzer IIIs raked the attacking Soviet column. Eleven T-34s were burning before the first German tank was disabled. Twenty minutes later, the four hundred Germans retreated in reasonably good order with six tanks still working.
Those men were trading their lives for time. The Red Army counter-attack had already ripped apart the northern flank of the 9th Army. One corps had been destroyed during the initial break-in attack, and it collapsed like a wet tissue as two mechanized armies hit it on the seventh day of the offensive. Another corps was barely holding together in front of Rhez. They needed to hold for another day to allow Army Group Center to reset the lines.
Four hundred miles to the south, the theater Panzer reserves were being loaded onto trains. Soon they would re-enter combat to stabilize the situation.
Another explosion brought down a warehouse. The girders were mangled and the roof was now being lit on fire as the exhausted quartermasters and truck drivers began to toss molotov cocktails at the debris field. A few hundred yards away, the river was being blocked. A seventh barge had been scuttled in the Volga. Another three or four barges would be needed to complete a cataract near the horseshoe bend. The airfield was aflame. The last transport aircraft had left the night before carrying forty three men when it was rated to only carry seventeen in its current condition. Half a dozen fighters and a dozen fighter bombers had flown combat missions since early morning from the airfield just outside the city. The bombers would take-off, fly fifteen minutes to the front, fling their bombs at an advancing Russian column and strafe any exposed infantry. An hour later, they would repeat that mission. Already three had been shot down. The fighters were struggling to provide cover for the retreat.
Seventeen miles south of the city, a battle group built around a company of panzers and the haphazard remnants of a regiment of panzer grenediers reinforced with cooks, drivers and mechanics retreated again. Two full strength Red Army tank brigades had been delayed in a short battle. The Russian artillery had been caught flat footed as they had pounded a perfect position eight hundred yards behind the incredibly imperfect delaying position that the invaders had taken for their stand. A five minute hurricane bombardment went overhead and caused almost no harm when the first anti-tank gun fired. Seven long barrelled Panzer IIIs raked the attacking Soviet column. Eleven T-34s were burning before the first German tank was disabled. Twenty minutes later, the four hundred Germans retreated in reasonably good order with six tanks still working.
Those men were trading their lives for time. The Red Army counter-attack had already ripped apart the northern flank of the 9th Army. One corps had been destroyed during the initial break-in attack, and it collapsed like a wet tissue as two mechanized armies hit it on the seventh day of the offensive. Another corps was barely holding together in front of Rhez. They needed to hold for another day to allow Army Group Center to reset the lines.
Four hundred miles to the south, the theater Panzer reserves were being loaded onto trains. Soon they would re-enter combat to stabilize the situation.
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Looks like it. Knock-off effect to not losing all those men/equipment in Stalingrad and North Africa.
SsgtC
Banned
Sounds like it. Though better is probably a relative term at this point. They're still getting crushed by sheer weight of numbers and being forced back. But it doesn't sound like they're being routed either. And they're definitely falling back at a much slower pace than IOTL. Fewer "Hold in Place" orders from Hitler maybe?
formion
Banned
Poland is not Germany, its an Ally. It is impausible to have a divided allied nation after the war. It would literally mean that the Cold War is at full swing by 1944. There can be a WAllied capitalist Poland, a communist Poland or a capitalist neutral Poland (like Finland). If indeed WAllies and Soviets meet somewhere in Poland, I think the most probable senario is that of a neutral Poland, as Stalin won't allow a NATO Poland.
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