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cpdeyoung -> RE: Sturm und Drang : Axis Perspective (3/14/2009 9:52:52 AM)
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A note on the campaign : Every bit of this campaign has been influenced by the war game the General Staff ran which is documented in "Road to Where". It will be remembered that in this RtW the Axis advanced into the Soviet Union, only to run out of momentum, and the Axis was crushed by attacks from west and east. We determined that we would have to avoid these consequences and so we paid careful attention to naval affairs and fought a large campaign in North Africa, and were giving serious thought to an invasion of England when the desert campaign was over. Two factors prevented us from said attack.
The first factor was that the Soviet Union did not wait behind their borders, but invaded us. We had to scramble to defend in the east. We mounted a defense rather quickly and were able to finish the desert campaign, but when the units from the Med were available we could not turn to England, or at least we did not do so. Rather we wintered in Poland and Romania, avoiding the consequences of the winter in Russia that year, and planned a limited offensive in the Spring.
The second factor was the vast resources of the USA, which allowed the Allies to challenge our control of the North Atlantic. Whatever window for a campaign against the British existed was slammed shut when we had to fight every other turn for sea control. Gary has said he is at 600PP per turn with extensive lend lease. After the beginning of 1942 he would have had to fight this lend lease through, but we have seen no sign of such convoys.
Now, in August 1942, we look back upon a spring and summer of campaigning in the East which gained us some ground, but which demonstrated the costs involved in attacking an enemy which has the level of troops enjoyed by the current Red Army. We see signs of lower level divisions which indicate the Soviets are prepared to build a defense in depth where needed. We did not have to see these to realize that we would not be pressing on any of the three great Soviet cities soon. We must keep the initiative, and this means we need a new operational - strategic mode in the east. This will be handicapped by a major committment in the west, where we will be fighting the allies in the war they are best equipped to win : production of naval forces. Nothing here is encouraging, and we remember that in RtW the Axis only lasted till summer 1943.
Gary is such a good player. He fought very well with the Axis in RtW, and he is proving masterful with the Allies and Soviets in SuD. His strike with the Soviets into Poland and East Prussia came close to taking the initiative from us. His extended campaign with the British was also impressive. It is possible that both these campaigns were fueled by shipments from the USA. This would be different from RtW where we assumed the USA would not be able to ship PP in quantity until after beligerency. In any case we have our work cut out for us. We hope that "Gott mit uns" applies here.
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