After Action Reporter

When we last met the Germans were pouring over the border into Italy and threatening Spain’s Italian holdings. From there, things get worse.

By April 24 the Germans have secured most of Northern Italy, and despite being pounded by our airforce are marching for our lines.

On May 3, German troops engage our positions, but not in strength, and are easily beaten back.

Skirmishes continue all early May and the battles go our way as the Germans haven’t moved their main body up to our position yet. On the 8th of May Rome is freed from our control and the Italians are given back their country.

By May 15 the Germans have taken positions opposite our lines and begun their assault in two positions. Although the battles go well at first, the battle on the coast quickly turns irreparably sour. Oh, the German troops have gone green as I think they’ve been given to the Italians to use as expeditionary forces.

On May 24 the Southern end of our line collapses, despite six-or-so divisions, fortifications, naval guns, dug in bonuses and air support all in our favour!

With our flank turned, and against all we could do to defend against the Krauts,  I am beginning to think we have no chance of stopping the dreaded Hun from taking all or lands and destroying our forces.

Checking the diplomacy screen we’re still months away from being able to join the Allies so it looks like we’re on our own!

In a surprising turn of events we take back the Southern province only to lose a province in the north. We have troops moving to counter attack, so with luck we should push back the Germans again and recapture our defensive line.

We capture back the lost Northern province with a swift counter attack and instead of the expected rout we have weeks of grinding battle. Monaco province (the Southern one) changes hands again and again ends up back under our control on June 15. Elsewhere on the front battles grind on and on and units are constantly being switched out and sent to the rear for rest and reorganisation before being sent back into the fray. For now, it seems to be a stalemate.

On the 19th of June a wild diplomatic stab (ok, begging and grovelling) sees this happen!

Spain collectively crosses its fingers and hopes and prays that the Austrians send some troops in to help us out some how!

By early July it’s clear that Austria can’t do much. As far as I can tell they only have a couple of divisions and there’s no sign of them crossing the border to join our struggle. We also lose two border provinces after fierce battles where around 20,000 men are lost on both sides (per battle!).

The rest of July sees battle slow down and a sort-of quiet descends across the front. I take the opportunity in August to try to wear down the German salient in the middle of our line. With attacks from four neighbouring provinces I’m hoping we can take it. Grinding battle goes on for days and days.

We’ve also sent the strategic and tactical bombers in to destroy logistics behind enemy lines in an attempt to wear down the supplies of these forward units. It seems to be working – I am seeing the ‘out of supplies’ battle condition o the bad guys pop up a few times. Not sure it will be enough to turn the tide of the battle though.

We let the battle run until the 4th of September, and despite running the enemy divisions down to only a slither of strength (a few men left only) we don’t make a dent in their organizational strength – and knocking that down is required to force the retreat.

Both sides lose a lot of men but no progress is made. On the bright side, we’ve deployed a heavy armored division!

Looking at the bombing run attacks it’s clear that the German forces are extremely depleted. Between the grinding battles, constant bombing and the logistic losses the enemy can’t seem to make headway. But on the other hand, we can’t push the bad guys off the provinces they’ve captured. Stalemate. After months of battle I’m sure we’re both weary and our poor troops must think they’re fighting WW1 again!

On the 8th of September I politely suggest to the Germans that we call it a day and consider a rematch at a later date. And, perhaps worn down as much as we have been, they agree!

Finally! The war is over! Thank god! We’ve lost Italy, but we’ve probably saved the country. There’s no way we could have kept up that war for another six months. Time to regroup, rebuild, and think about our options (and try to figure out when, if ever, this game will end!

Read on here: HOI3 AAR: Viva el Socialismo! – #15