The Gathering Storm, Redux - Gameplay Thread (WW2 - Early 1940)

[Lumine]

The World War

July to September 1938 (Part One)

"For years, we have wondered whether mankind would learn its lesson, whether the horrors of the Great War would be avoided, whether we would have the wisdom not to put this world of ours through it again. We know now that, on this task, we have all failed. And if the reports I bring today, dear listeners, are to be believed, a long night awaits for millions of unfortunate souls. Once again, we can never be too grateful to live away from barbarity in our United States. But we must inevitably wonder... for how long?"

(William Shirer, CBS News, reporting from Europe)

Baltic Front

Invasion of Lithuania

Ever since the Polish–Lithuanian War concluded with a Polish victory eighteen years ago, the spirit of revenge was alive and well within the Republic of Lithuania. Having lost its ancestral capital of Vilnius, it had refused to acknowledge territorial changes and to have any sort of diplomatic relations with its neighbor, a notion that enraged Polish nationalism and, particularly, the Sanation movement of Pilsudski and Koc. Following a border incident at the end of 1937 that left two dead, calls grew for confrontation between both nations, with Warsaw finally concluding that the time was right to put an end to hostility from Kaunas.

With the eyes of the world leaving the Baltics behind following tensions in early 1938 over supposed Soviet - and/or German - plans for the region, observers were surprised by the news that the Polish Army, led by Marshal Rydz-Smigly himself - had crossed the Lithuanian border and was engaged in a shooting war. Over the next few weeks, President Smetona did its best to mobilize the smaller Lithuanian Army to resist the Polish invasion, which claimed to be motivated by a desire to restore democracy in the small Baltic nation. Despite early setbacks for the Poles, Warsaw used innovative tactics to maneuver around the Lithuanian forces, with General Stanislaw Maczek becoming a hero overnight as his 7TP Polish-made tanks encircled Kaunas and stormed the city.

Almost two thirds of the country have been occupied, with Smetona fleeing to the coast to continue resistance as he appeals for international aid. In the meantime, in Memel, local ethnic Germans have started to issue calls for Germany to reoccupy the territory, not being keen on Polish domination.

Balkan Front

The Macedonian Trenches

The fall of Skopje had been a tough blow for the Serbians, who risked losing yet another military conflict as the IMRO mobilized further local resistance to Belgrade. Amidst reports of Regent Nedic being sidelined and power moving into the hands of the younger hardline Colonels - with Defence Minister Mihailovic cited as the new leading man -, the Serbians launched a special "cleansing" operation across the areas of Bosnia still in revolt. Although accounts are sparse, there is talk of significant ethnic cleansing against the Bosniaks who have refused asylum into Bulgaria and Turkey, and unconfirmed reports suggest Greater Serbia has declared full military victory against the Bosniak revolt, a move that will likely allow for greater concentration of force to the south.

In the meantime, buoyed by their recent victory, the Bulgarian forces pushed ahead, taking significant precautions against potential drastic escalation by Belgrade. Supported by increased local assistance and collaboration with the IMRO, as well as with their key advantage in superior air power, the Bulgarians stormed the new temporary defensive lines of the Serbians, but were only able to push them back after significant effort due to a much stiffer resistance than expected. Soon it became clear that the Serbians had been buying time to further enhance several fortified "lines" built during the truce, and subsequent Bulgarian assaults crashed against a wall as trench warfare much akin to the Western Front in 1915 emerged.

Although the Serbs have been almost expelled from Macedonia, they still retain a significant part of the region, and casualties on both sides are rapidly expanding.

Czech Front

A Nation Rises, Another Survives

In many ways, the outbreak of war between Paris and Berlin came as a blessing to General Syrovy's beleaguered regime. Although hoping for long-term resistance against the Reich was always going to be a difficult objective to accomplish, it provided a chance to be seized, and Syrovy did his utmost to really the battered Czechoslovak Army and restore its confidence. Having already suffered through endless defections of ethnic officers and troops, the remaining core stabilized its numbers, and a decrease in Communist activity - as they have gone into defensive positions - allowed him to regain focus. Though lacking new reinforcements, the German armored spearheads hurled themselves in a race towards Prague, hoping to encircle the capital and end the campaign.

What followed was a complex series of battles as the Czechoslovak Army staged a successful fighting withdrawal, trading territory for the integrity of its forces. Having thus conserved strength, they went into counterattack at the end of September, right as the German columns approached central Bohemia. For over a week the battle raged, with German panzers approaching the outskirts of the city. Against the odds, a final Czech counterattack broke the German lines, delivering a humiliating victory and forcing the enemy to fall back. In contrast, far greater success for the German-Hungarian cause was to be found eastwards, as several Czech pockets of resistance collapsed and Bratislava was relieved by the Royal Hungarian Army.

Despite the sudden death of Slovak national leader Andrej Hlinka, shot dead while giving a speech in liberated Bratislava - though to be the work of Czech sniper -, his successor Jozef Tiso delivered a rallying cry for an independent nation, proclaiming the Republic of Slovakia that same day. By and large, Czech resistance has collapsed in Slovakia proper, isolating their forces in the Subcarpathian Rus as the Hungarians have secured virtually all ethnic-Hungarian territories. Still, Czechoslovakia and General Syrovy live to fight another day.

Western Front

Dash through Belgium

Amidst grumblings of dissent with the German General Staff, Chancellor Hugenberg had made up his mind on how to fight the war against France. And in what can only be described as a major gamble, the Chancellor decided to fight as ruthlessly and recklessly as possible to deliver the killing blow that had evaded Germany in the summer of 1914. Shortly after the declaration of war, the already mobilized Reichswehr crossed the Belgian border once again, breaching Belgium's neutrality for the second time. Walther von Reichenau's Army Group A found the Belgian forces unprepared and underdeveloped, resulting in the rapid seizure of forts and destruction of their first line of defence even as Georges Blanchard's French 1st Army Group entered Belgium to take positions around the Meuse River.

Planning for long-drawn battle across the Meuse, Blanchard took immediate precautions against chemical warfare, fearing a repeat of the nightmare of the Great War. For two days - as Reichenau massed his forces - Blanchard saw no columns of poisonous smoke. The next morning, parts of the front started to fall silent. Shortly after, Army Group A threw itself at the rapidly collapsing French lines, as several units panicked upon noticing signs of gas poisoning despite wearing gas masks. Shortly after, the Battle for the Meuse turned into a full-blown debacle, forcing the Belgian government to evacuate to Ypres and the French to withdraw.

Gotterdammerung in the Netherlands

Having taken even less precautions than the Belgians and being even more unprepared for war, the Netherlands had clung to the sort of neutrality that was becoming increasingly out of fashion due to the actions of multiple belligerent countries. The entrance of the German Army into Belgium led to immediate preparations for partial mobilization to deter aggression, only for Amsterdam to learn that their country hadn't been deemed a target for occupation. It had been, however, a target for neutralization. Before preparations could be completed, the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe began intensive bombardments, all of them targeting the dikes that sustained the Netherlands in its eternal battle against the sea. Not all of them were destroyed once the operation was finished. But enough of them were.

The scale of the damage is as of yet undetermined, but the death toll climbs at the very least to the tens of thousands as Amsterdam is utterly overwhelmed in trying to respond to this unprecedented disaster. Large parts of the country are reported to be now under the sea - in some cases flooded by a small margin, in others, potentially gone forever - as millions of refugees struggle to escape, causing chaos in intact parts of the Netherlands and collapsing the parts of Northern Belgium that remain free. What the response from the Dutch government will be remains to be seen, but there are already reports of German refugees being lynched in the streets. Kaiser Wilhelm II, living in exile at Doorn, barely escaped with his life by fleeing back into the German border. Most of his staff were not so lucky.

Battle at the Saarland

Though comparatively a secondary theatre of operations, the original Franco-German border did not go unnoticed, with the French 2nd Army Group launching an immediate offensive from the occupied Saarland into the Rhine. Their initial strike proved eventful, rapidly crashing into a German force marching towards the Maginot Line and forcing the French to resume defensive positions for a few days. Having eventually discovered it was a feint due to aerial reconnaissance, the 2nd Army Group threw itself at it and caused heavy casualties on the decoy German force, only to crash into significant fortifications - the so called Siegfried Line - previously built under Hugenberg's forces - that forced the French advance into a halt. To their bitter disappointment, territorial gains were limited, preventing them from reaching the German industrial heartland.

The Race to Paris

Leaving the battered remnants of the Belgian Army and the 1st French Army - separated from its Army Group - isolated in Western Belgium -, under Günther von Kluge's Army Group B, Reichenau led its consolidated forces on the next stage of the battle: the dash for Paris. Once again chemical weapons featured heavily as much as seemingly limited stocks permitting, killing comparatively few French soldiers whilst still sowing terror and chaos due to the ineffectiveness of masks. It appears evident that a new sort of agent is at hand. Despite Blanchard's skillful withdrawal, Charles Huntziger's 2nd Army became encircled before it could crossed the Somme. Unwilling to suffer being gassed into submission, Huntziger surrendered. With his defensive preparations shattered, Blanchard used his reserves to blunt the spearhead towards Paris, throwing Henri Giraud's 7th Army at the enemy to stop their advance.

Ruthless use of the new chemical - whose use appeared to be lessening in quantity - eventually disrupted Giraud's attack, but he had inflicted significant casualties on the German lines for the first time. More importantly, he had bought time for another army, Corap's 9th, to join forces already stationed to defend Paris. Here the final battle of the summer was fought at the Aisne and Oise rivers, with a particularly grueling tank encounter at Compiegne looking like the start of a French comeback before the German armored spearhead broke through again. With the French withdrawing back to the Marne river, Paris is now vulnerable to attack. Perhaps ironically, the German advance stalled entirely at this point. There is significant speculation as to why the Germans have halted, but not immediate explanation.

Daladier's luck runs out

Shortly after Germany invaded Belgium, a powerful declaration arrived from London by Prime Minister Halifax and King Edward - though the latter focused more on being sorrowful about the eventual hardships that lay ahead -, declaring war on Germany and announcing an immediate expedition to assist Britain's allies. Despite the limited time to organize a British Expeditionary Force, the first divisions landed in Belgium in August, where they have taken position alongside the Belgians. Additional forces landed in Normandy in September, aided by a giant Entente naval mobilization across the English Channel, and which may well be in position to assist the defense of Paris. All of this, in turn, may have been sufficient to bolster French morale. But it was not to be.

Édouard Daladier had shown his resolve by promoting the once unthinkable: a Popular Front government to battle the war resolutely. In ditching a national unity government, he ensured rapid coherence, even at the cost of furious press and parliamentary assaults on the participation of Maurice Thorez and the Communist Party. And had he had a chance at a victory, it is likely that the shaky foundations of the government would have held, allowing Daladier to, once again, cheat political death and survive after such an unprecedented period in power. Alas, the disasters in Belgium and Northern France badly shook national morale and confidence. Even as a large part of the nation rallied behind its Prime Minister and the war effort, another sank deeply into pessimism, defeatism, or outright panic.

With the Germans approaching Paris, the right and the center decided they'd had enough. In a subsequent vote of confidence, Daladier's 10 seat majority evaporated as his internal right-wing critics in the PRRRS panicked and bolted. Having lost a vote of confidence, President Lebrun was forced to dismiss him from office. At its darkest hour, and with the National Assembly debating how - and whether - to continue the struggle, and whether to abandon Paris, France is to have a new government.

[Lumine]

The World War

July to September 1938 (Part Two)

Romanian Front

Rise of the International Legions

By an large, and before the atrocities of the Western Front took center stage, the world became
enraptured by Romania's struggle against the Soviet Union. For many, it became the definitive struggle between Marxism and its opposite set of values, taking on an ideological dimension greatly fueled by the bombastic rhetoric of Duce Benito Mussolini. In the coming weeks after the invasion, thousands of anti-communist foreigners did their best to find their way into Romania through whichever means available.

An entire division was formed only with Italian Blackshirts - the First Legion of the Crusade for the Defense of Dacia -, followed by entire regiments or brigades from other nationalities. Many have distinguished themselves in battle, including the American brigade, the Baltic brigade, and most recently, the Brazilian brigade, the result of a personal intervention by President Vargas. However, having smashed the small Romanian navy, and with no Eurasian - or to be more precise, Turkish - vessels venturing themselves out of the Bosphorus, the Soviet Black Sea Fleet has entirely blockaded the Romanian ports, forcing any future volunteers to travel across Poland, Bulgaria and Greater Serbia to get to Bucharest.

The Summer Campaign

Despite its growing unpopularity, King Carol of Romania has been able to stabilize his government by forming a minority government, supported - perhaps surprisingly so - by the previously hostile Iron Guard. The main victim of this has been the Romanian Communist Party, as the government's rapid reaction in establishing martial law and marshaling significant resources to battle the Communists has sapped their strength and drastically reduced the danger of strife behind the lines. Indeed, several top Communist lieutenants are reported to be dead or jailed, with the party General Secretary and the bulk of his comrades forced to cross the Soviet lines to survive. Embracing a defensive stance, the Romanians hoped to survive the summer. This they did, but at a high price.

In the north, Marshal Yegorov fought his way across Bessarabia as the weaker Romanian forces began to collapse under the onslaught of infantry. Despite deficient Soviet performances, Yegorov nonetheless was able to exploit a breakthrough, his forces overrunning much of Moldova and Bukovina after taking Iasi. In spite of this, a final push by Yegorov towards the west was contained by reinforcements, leading to a costly battle of attrition for both sides. In the south, however, Marshal Blyukher's push initially forced the Romanians to withdraw, taking Cahul, only for the situation to turn around as he reached the river Prut. At the battles of Galati and Ismail, Blyukher launched offensive after offensive, wasting dozens of thousands of men and countless armor in trying to unsuccessfully pierce the enemy lines.

This costly failure has crippled the main Soviet spearhead, if at the cost of extremely heavy casualties for the International Legions. Indeed, it is rumored that, unlike Romanian prisoners, the anti-communist volunteers are potentially being shot on sight.

Middle Eastern Front

The Muslim Uprising

Not long after the first Soviet tank crossed the Romanian border. Muslim villagers across Central Asia, the Caucasus and Southern Russia were provided with an odd sight: preachers. Islamic preachers, taking of holy wars and desecration of their faith, preaching against the godless atheism of those in power, and calling on fellow believers in the Prophet to arise. Local Communist officials did not pay much attention at first, and neither did the NKVD. There were, after all, better things to do, and limited resources to waste on a few random priest. And then the attacks began. A riot here. A bombing there. An assassination. A raid. And then an attack on a garrison. The latter, conducted in Chechnya by an organization calling itself the Army of Islamic Liberation, signaled the start of bedlam.

Confused officers have begun calling to Moscow in somewhat of a panic, noting extreme ethnic tension and strife not seen since the civil war. Already there are reports of similar attacks to that of Chechnya in Crimean Tatar areas, in Dagestan, and in Soviet Central Asia. Thus far, unconfirmed reports suggest that the Red Army has rapidly mobilized to contain any escalation of violence, only for the large distances and other demands to prevent immediate results.

Unrest in Turkey

However, it has not just been the Soviet who have experienced sudden ethnic strife. Despite their recent defeat at the hands of the Turkish Army after another failed revolt, the Kurds have seemingly refused to accept their recent state of affairs, and may be sensing hope as a result of the war between the Soviet Union and the Eurasian Alliance. All across the summer, similar reports to that of Russia emerged from Kurdish communities in Iraq and Turkey, leading to multiple strikes, strife in several cities, and most recently, open riots against Atatürk and King Faisal, calling for the establishment of a Kurdish nation. It is the next development, however, that has led to more unexpected consequences.

Despite adopting a defensive stance in Central Asia and the Middle East - much like their Eurasian counterparts - the Soviets launched a major charm offensive for the Armenian SSR, appealing to their sense of hatred and resentment for the Turks. It worked wonders, with thousands enlisting with the appeal of revenge. This led to explosive news emerging, as a number of renegade nationalist leaders came out of hiding with claims that Turkish officials from Ankara had promised to recognize the genocide inflicted upon them by the Ottoman Empire not twenty years ago, making promises of independence, freedom, and a brotherhood between Turkey and Armenia that, by the looks of it, only infuriated them.

Spurning these promises, they proclaimed them loudly and clearly, hoping to embarrass Ankara whilst Armenia committed itself deeper and deeper into the Soviet camp. Atatürk, hailed as a living prophet until a few weeks ago, has experienced the first signs of serious backlash as protests have emerged in Istanbul and other important areas, with nationalist groups racing to denounce this treason, refute the Armenian claims of a past genocide, and demand the immediate invasion and destruction of the Armenian SSR.

East Asian Front

The Fall of Xinjiang

By and large, major operations were suspended during the summer of 1938 in the western-most parts of China, perhaps a wise choice on account of the impossible climate and the impenetrable nature of the desert under such temperatures. This, however, has been enough for the Red Army to consolidate its position in Xinjiang, destroying all remaining major forces and forcing the surviving Ma loyalists into the Ma Clique, which is reported to be furiously fortifying its borders whenever terrain permits.

Carnage at the Gobi Desert

With the front in Inner Mongolia also entering a defensive phase, featuring the arrival of Chinese reinforcements and defensive work by the Japanese, the Mongolian front took priority during the summer. In a curious quirk of fate, both the Mongolian-Soviet and the KMT-Northern Coalition armies choose that season for their offensives, resulting in both cavalry-heavy armies clashing against each other under the scorching heat of the Gobi desert. Thousands have died in bloody, increasingly pointless battles, all while logistical conditions deteriorate close to the breaking point. Very limited ground has been taken by the Chinese, but, to their advantage, attrition has given them a newfound advantage over the smaller enemy force. To make matters worse for Ulaanbaatar, a sudden explosion at the Trans-Siberian Railway close to Irkutsk has temporarily sabotaged the Soviet supply line into the Gobi.

The First Battle of Nanjing

With the southern front also moving into mutual defensive stances, allowing Japan to hold recently captured ground and the NRA to gather more strength, the IJA has resumed its advance after the fall of Qingdao, pursuing the retreating Chinese northwards in an attempt to push towards Beijing. For the most part, the northern offensive has been successful, further clearing sections of the Chinese coastline but failing to capture significant numbers of enemy troops. Indeed, the offensive stalled half-way to Tianjin after the NRA made a defensive stand. Thus, the largest action in mainland China during the summer was, unquestionably, the struggle for Nanjing.

Keeping the bulk of their infantry at the center to keep Chiang's increasingly large forces - having committed most of the NRA's best units - pinned down, two pincers moved into an ambitious encirclement of the capital, seeking to use decisive superiority in tanks - most of them foreign-made - to besiege the key city. A series of violent battles ensued, featuring harsh trench warfare in the center and an auspicious start for both Japanese pincers. The southern pincer, however, was suddenly thrown off-balance by a surprise Chinese offensive into Hangzhou, which threatened to expose its entire flank and forced a withdrawal amidst significant casualties and the loss of heavy equipment. The northern pincer, however, struggle for several weeks before finally breaking through at the end of September.

Collectively, the Japanese forces are ever closer to Nanjing, but the city is far from being isolated in spite of the northern breakthrough. The cost, however, has been grim. And in a development that even defies the recent outcome in Mongolia, Japanese casualties have mounted and surpassed Chinese ones on this season. Not everything, however, is bright for Generalissimo Chiang. Recent reports indicate the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has made something of a comeback, expanding its rural areas of influence and causing disruption in the Chinese rear near Yunnan. Not only that, domestic ethnic strife has also reached mainland China, with several minorities reacting badly to government propaganda calling for "national cohesion".

[Lumine]

October 1st, 1938

[Lumine]

Soviet Estonian Non-Aggression Pact

1. Estonia shall grant the USSR the right to maintain naval bases and airfields protected by Red Army troops on the strategic islands dominating Tallinn, the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga.
2. The Soviet Union shall agree to increase her annual trade turnover with Estonia and to give Estonia facilities in case the Baltic is closed to her goods for trading with the outside world via Soviet ports on the Black Sea and White Sea.
3. The USSR and Estonia shall defend each other from "aggression arising on the part of any great European power".
4. The USSR and Estonia shall when needed help each other out with military and economic assistance and guidance.
5. The USSR and Estonia shall work together to combat famine and provide food to each nation.
6. In case the independence of Estonia is violated, the USSR shall supply food and military equipment and whatever is necessary to Estonia and protect its people.

Signed,

Konstantin Pats, President of Estonia.

[Lumine]

The World War

October to December 1938 (Part One)

"And so I say to you all that we shall rebuild as a nation. We shall endure this tragedy with our head held high, and come back stronger. And no matter how long it may take, these lands of ours that we have won to the sea, and which we have only temporarily lost due to the deviousness of the Hun, will be regained before long. And the Netherlands shall never, ever forget the arch-enemy of mankind responsible for these unspeakable crimes. To you, Herr Hugenberg, I say only one thing: before long, you will have to answer to God for what has been done to our people."

(Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, speech to the Dutch nation)

Western Front

Britannia Rules the Waves

After the successful establishment of a blockade of the North Sea by the Royal Navy, cutting off a vital lifeline of supplies and raw materials for the Reich's war machine, Berlin decided it was time to strike back. The U-Boat submarine fleet, though limited in numbers, received orders to sail forth and strangle the Empire's commerce with the British isles, hoping to inflict on the British a repeat of the submarine warfare of 1917. However, and despite their best attempts, it was not to be. Despite successfully sinking a handful of cruisers and destroyers, the bulk of the u-Boat fleet was either destroyed or heavily damaged in a series of skirmishes, tightening the British blockade and preventing a German breakout for the rest of the war. To make matters worse, before the Luftwaffe could roar, RAF Bomber Command attempted the first large-scale naval bombing of the war, aiming to strike Wilhelmshaven and its vital shipyards. Despite serious accuracy issues, the raid proved reasonably successful, heavily damaging the shipyards with only a handful of bombers being lost. Ultimately, events in Britain proper prevented further bombing missions.

The Fall of Paris

The fall of the Daladier government led to awkward questions as to who could lead the government, particularly given the controversial nature of the Popular Front. The question was solved by the decision of Maurice Thorez and the PCF leadership to abandon the city to, allegedly, lead resistance efforts elsewhere, a move widely interpreted as an escape from the endangered capital that did much to foster chaos and uncertainty. With the PCF away from the equation, the PRRRS's right-wing roared back after six years of isolation under Daladier. Former Premiers Édouard Herriot and Pierre Laval compromised with the right, forming an Emergency Government with Herriot as Premier and Laval as the new Foreign Minister. Initially resisting talk of relocating away from Paris, Herriot and Laval rejected a peace overture from the Germans, feeling the terms were political suicide.

Shortly after, the Luftwaffe launched a major raid to Paris around the same time that the bulk of Von Reichenau's forces resumed the Battle for the Marne, destroying most of the city's airports, crushing the French Air Force in battle, and sparking panic in a population - and a National Assembly - all too keen to avoid bloodshed in the streets. General Henri Giraud, recently promoted as commander of the new 2nd Army Group - tasked with the defence of Paris - did his best to rally the citizens to arms, only to meet a muted and at times hostile reply. As the German forces broke through the Marne, Herriot and Laval gave up to heavy pressure from the National Assembly, and relocated the government to Bordeaux via a land evacuation. Against Giraud's protests, Paris was declared an open city, with thousands evacuating to the countryside as the German forces approached.

Denied the opportunity to try and hold the capital, heavily damaged after the bombing raids, Giraud was forced to withdraw behind the Seine, having sabotaged as much as he could. Shortly after, the first armored columns entered the French capital, a feat not managed since 1870, and hung the German flag over the Arc de Triumph.

The Ghosts of the Somme

One thing the soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force remembered well thanks to their fathers was the Somme, and the legend associated with it. In a single day of battle, 60,000 British soldiers had been wounded or killed on July 1st, 1916, and the wounds had lingered for years. Now, the rapidly growing BEF was massing on the Pas de Calais for a renewed offensive to threaten the German flanks that approached Paris and provide further assistance to a planned Entente push from Belgium. Lord Gort, head of the BEF led the assault, smashing into Reichenau's right flank, finding stiff resistance. Gort nonetheless soldiered on, expecting his push to eventually breakthrough and/or occupy sufficient German reserves to break the enemy lines elsewhere. Fighting three successful encounters, Gort was finally stopped by constant use of poison gas and a desperate German counterattack near Peronne, bringing fighting in the Somme to a halt with the arrival of winter. The Ghosts of the Somme, however, had not been exorcised. Thousands of British casualties had ensued in the push, far more than those sustained by the Germans.

Breakout at Cambrai

Arguably, Gort's hopes of weakening the German lines became a partial truth. Devoting most of their efforts south, Berlin had left von Kluge's Army Group B as the weakest of the main German formations, and had still entrusted them with the vital task of crushing the newly reformed 1st French Army Group, now encompassing the 1st French Army and the Belgian Armed Forces. To his shock, von Kluge found the Entente forces reorganized and rearmed, their offensive stalling out immediately. His flank now exposed, von Kluge suffered a major debacle at Cambrai at the hands of the Belgian forces, which, led by King Leopold in the field, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Reichswehr. Pushing further south, French commander Blanchard made life even harder for Kluge by breaking out limited supplies of mustard gas. Following the near-capture and destruction of almost an entire German corps, Blanchard had to halt his offensive near St. Quentin, only a few kilometers away from the Somme. This debacle, in turn, directly threatens the delicate German supply lines that sustain the effort against Paris.

Battles of the Marne, Seine and Aisne

Whilst the French command reorganized itself amidst political chaos, von Reichenau's Army Group A resumed its push on the Marne as the supply line became reestablished, taking advantage of remaining stocks of the mysterious poison gas to attempt the crossing of the river. Despite active countermeasures and growing French use of mustard gas, the massive concentration of force and the strife in Paris disrupted Giraud's defensive dispositions, causing a temporary collapse of the front. Reichenau crossed the Marne and declared victory, occupying Paris with his forces and immediately pushing ahead to the next target: the Seine. This time Giraud held his ground, no longer saddled with having to defend the capital. Despite the disadvantage posed by thousands of civilians disrupting the roads, Giraud was able to bring the German offensive to a halt once again, avoiding a German breakthrough that would have left Central France vulnerable. Despite this, losses have been heavy on both sides, a war of attrition that now places Giraud in a major numerical inferiority.

Eastwards, two opposite offensives clashed into the true slaughterhouse of the fall: the Aisne river. Whereas the new 3rd French Army Group, led by Édouard Requin, intended to push towards the Aisne to cut the German offensive on Paris; the new Army Group C, led by Erwin von Witzleben, was meant to drive southwards to encircle French forces in the Saarland. Having almost missed each other, skirmishes soon developed into an intense clash as both Army Groups attempted to encircle their opposite counterpart. An early push by Charles de Gaulle's 1st Armored Corps resulted in the biggest tank battle of the war so far, a debacle for the French after Erwin Rommel cut through the French tanks, encircling and destroying half of De Gaulle's tanks. Soon the battle for the Aisne degenerated into trench warfare, filled with heavy bombardment, chemical warfare on both sides, and mass assaults. With the arrival of winter, Requin was able to halt Witzleben's push. The cost, however, had been crippling, with French losses numbering in the tens of thousands.

Battle of Britain

Just as Germany suffered heavy losses at sea, the outlook in the air was improved to a dramatic degree. Having decided to gamble in a bold manner, the bulk of the Luftwaffe was redirected from the French frontlines to mass on airfields in Belgium and Germany that could reach the British isles. The goal: to break the back of the RAF in a single strike. Over three weeks in December, Luftwaffe Supreme Commander Walther Wever led raid after raid, the parity in pilot skill between the Luftwaffe and the RAF quickly becoming unbalanced due to superior German numbers and the fact that superior British fighters were still coming off the production lines. Before the Germans were forced to call off the raids to prevent major attrition, RAF Fighter Command had taken a serious beating, drastically reducing British air power and raising the awkward question of whether British air resources should be removed from France.

End of the Herriot government

With the PCF and a number of deputies missing, the Cabinet and much of the National Assembly were established in Bordeaux by the end of December 1938. Despite the loss of Paris and the grim news of heavy casualties, the French Army was improving its performance and morale, with the success of Cambrai suggesting that the Battle for France was far from however. This, in turn, intensified the conflict between supporters of resistance until the end, particularly Daladier loyalists; and supporters of an honorable peace, with Laval as their biggest advocate. Herriot appeared to be trying to chart a middle course between both options, an impossible task made all the more impossible due to his failing health. Shortly before Christmas, Herriot suffered a non-fatal heart attack during a Cabinet session. After talks with President Lebrun, Herriot offered his resignation, acknowledging he did not possess the health required for the job. This, in turn, means the National Assembly will be looking for a new Premier...

Eastern Front

The End of Lithuania

Though increasingly a secondary front, the Polish Army did not neglect Lithuania during the end of the year, putting a end to a campaign long desired by the more hawkish elements within Sanation. The departure of Marshal Rydz-Smigly to the south to fight what was intended to be the Ukrainian campaign led to General Juliusz Rómmel assuming overall command, resulting in a firm yet prudent thrust to destroy the remnants of the Lithuanian Army and occupy the rest of the country. Having been unsuccessful in courting foreign support, and having also rejected the one offer of support he received, President Smetona intended to secure exile in a friendly power for his remaining forces to continue the struggle, but it was not to be. He was shot and killed by an assassin, sending the Lithuanian government into chaos. As the Poles advanced, the last remaining stronghold became the port of Klaipeda. Then, the Soviet Baltic Fleet intervened.

Baltic Fleet Strikes!

Arrving on Klaipeda, the Baltic Fleet delivered an ultimatum to the Lithuanian Navy, represented by its only vessel: the minesweeper President Smetona, demanding its surrender. Upon its refusal, the minesweeper was destroyed in a brief encounter, afterwhich the Baltic Fleet evacuated those Lithuanian refugees willing to go to the Soviet Union and then destroyed the port and its installations to prevent capture. Shortly after, the Baltic Fleet appeared outside Gdynia, the far smaller Polish fleet on its sights. After a two-hour battle, the entire Polish Navy was destroyed, its six destroyers far outmatched in number. Having only inflicted moderate casualties on the Soviets, the Baltic Fleet proceded to blockade the entire Polish coastline, cutting off the influx of volunteers for Romania and all supply shipments across the Baltic Sea.

2nd Polish Soviet War

Plainly, neither Warsaw nor Moscow had forgotten the Polish Soviet War, which after almost twenty years appeared to be a distinct case of unfinished business. The irony, perhaps, resides in the fact that both powers choose the exact same season to act against each other. As Marshal Rydz-Smigly led the bulk of the Polish Army in crossing the border with the Ukrainian SSR, fully expecting to cut off the Red Army units fighting in Romania, he found a new Soviet Front massed in front of him. At its head was none other than Field Marshal Tukhachevsky, the new Soviet leader, who had taken personal command of an offensive intended to break into Southern Poland. As luck would have it, both armies had chosen similar areas of attack. The first encounter at the Battle of Mogilev Podolsky proved disastrous for Rydz-Smigly, who committed his armored forces too early as irreplaceable Polish tanks were lost to a heavy concentration of Soviet artillery and anti-tank weapons.

Tukhachevsky, ably aided by Chief of Staff Yan Gamarnik, immediately went into the offensive with his forces, trying to apply new tactics into the battlefield resembling those attempted by Poland in Lithuania and by Germany in France. First at Tarnopol, and then at Lwov, Tukhachevsky achieved two significant victories, further disrupting the Polish Armies as Rydz-Smigly appeared to be outmatched. Having planned to waltz into Galicia, Tukhachevsky expected Przemysl to be an easy target, only for the Polish Army to regroup. Led by General Tadeusz Kutrzeba, the Poles mounted an unyielding defense, forcing them to take on fortifications at a heavy cost. As a final, nasty surprise, the Poles broke out their reserves of mustard gas, inflicting thousands of losses on Tukhachevsky and bringing his Polish dash to an end.

Ethnic Struggle in the East

After only a few weeks, it is clear that the ethnic dimension will be extremely relevant for the Polish-Soviet conflict, as both sides have spared no efforts to try and win hearts and minds for their cause. Within the Soviet Union, a successful rallying cry has led Belorussians to rally behind Tukhachevsky, with thousands of new enlistments preparing to join future campaigns against Poland. This has also been matched by efforts in now occupied Polish territory, with some ethnic minorities joining the Red Army in the struggle against Sanation. However, it is the Soviet Union that has suffered the worst part of it, with the short lived Polish entry into the Ukrainian SSR resulting in multiple uprisings. There are reports of Ukrainian militias - with the organization OUN taking on a major role - multiplying and attacking Soviet supply lines, rallying to the cry of Ukrainian independence against Moscow.

Romania at the Breaking Point

Having started the invasion of Romania with expectations of victory in a few weeks, the Red Army has proved unable to achieve a quick victory, forced instead into a long, bitter slog with horrific losses. By the New Year, the Kingdom of Romania still stands, but after nine months Bucharest is finally within sight. Perhaps the worse development for the Soviets came down south, due to the decision of the Romanian Army to launch a major counteroffensive with all available units against the growing bridgehead at Constanta. Against the odds, the Romanians immediately disrupted a Soviet push aimed at Bucharest, encircling several Soviet regiments and disrupting the enemy lines. Panicking, the Soviet commander was forced to substantially fall back, ending the immediate damage to the capital from the east as the Soviets regrouped closer to the vital port.

As the northern offensive switched into Poland, only limited progress was achieved by the Soviets, finally kicking the Romanians out of Bukovina and Northern Moldova. The main effort, therefore, came at the south. There, Marshal Blyukher immediately send his growing reinforcements to the frontlines, hoping for another dash to finally break the Romanian lines at the Prut River. Facing defeat after defeat on the Second and Third Battles of Galati, a frantic Blyukher was finally able to achieve the long desired breakthrough after an unprecedented use of massed artillery, cementing the breakthrough with a second victory at Braila. The Soviet columns finally left the trenches as they marched southwards, the capital city of Bucharest in their mind. Only a final Romanian counterattack stopped them a few kilometers outside of the capital, ensuring the survival of the nation into 1939. Blyukher has his victory, with rumors telling of crippling Soviet casualties - to the point of endangering his future moves - all the way to Moscow.

The Fall of Czechoslovakia

Much like Romania, Czechoslovakia had also faced an invasion many expected to be short before achieving victory, only for stiff resistance to surprise the world. Unlike Romania, the Czech government was too isolated to hope for long-term victory, an assessment that became confirmed as 1938 drew to a close. A reorganization of the Hungarian and German lines led a joint push by both armies towards Prague, with the experienced Great War commander Archduke Joseph August - who recently joined his distant cousin Otto - taking on a key role. Despite Syrovy's best efforts, the Czechs were at a major disadvantage in terms of air power and lacked the means to properly replenish equipment losses, the twin German-Hungarian pincer dooming the capital of Prague. After two week of fighting across the outskirts of the city, Syrovy was told by his Cabinet that resistance was now hopeless.

Across the east, remaining Czech forces in Slovakia collapsed as Tiso and his rebel forces consolidated control over the region, cementing the Republic of Slovakia. Hungarian forces were quick to march westwards, reaching and occupying the Subcarpathian Rus as the isolated Czech forces surrendered. Although received favorably, there is already tension between the Hungarian forces and the Ukrainian minority, with newly formed militias demanding the declaration of a new Ukrainian state from the liberated region. In Prague proper, Syrovy finally relented to the demands of the Cabinet, formalizing his surrender. Czech armed resistance has for the most part winded down, with a handful of army units refusing to yield the border fortifications and/or disappearing into the countryside to continue the struggle.

Balkan Front

All Hellish on the Balkan Front

Having had their final push on Macedonia stalled by trench warfare, the Bulgarian Army shifted into the defensive for the rest of the year, digging their own trenches in preparation for an eventual Serbian counterattack. This came in November, with a series of mass assaults by newly redeployed units from the Bosnian front that, despite taking on lopsided losses due to Bulgarian air superiority, showed near suicidal bravery that unsettled the Bulgarian frontlines. With their fortifications being only recent, the Serbians achieved an initial breakthrough to cover a few areas of lost ground, only to stall after the Bulgarians regrouped on the next improvised line. This failure, in turn, would have consequences for Belgrade at the end of the year.

[Lumine]

The World War

October to December 1938 (Part Two)

Eurasian Front

The Bosphorus Raid

Upon successfully establishing a blockade of the Black Sea after the destruction of the small Romanian fleet, the next challenge of the Black Sea Fleet became the danger posed by Turkey, whose fleet, while smaller, made for a serious challenger for eventual control of the sea. As the air battles raged across Romania and Poland, demanding the attention of the overstretched Eurasian airmen, several bombing squadrons of the Red Air Force took flight from Sevastopol and Odessa, approaching the skies of the Bosphorus around the same time that the Black Sea Fleet approached it. Over the next few hours, the Soviet squadrons mercilessly bombed the Turkish naval infrastructure and the Turkish fleet, aided by long-range naval gunfire. As columns of smoke reached Istanbul, it became clear that Gölcük Naval Base had been almost entirely wrecked, taking with it a third of Turkish naval strength and heavily damaging the shipyards. The raid has thus cemented Soviet control of the Black Sea, if at a significant cost in bomber crews and with the loss of a couple of ships to coastal artillery.

The Kurdish Revolt

Amidst nationalist protests in Ankara over the alleged dealings with Armenian leaders, President Atatürk scrambled to salvage the situation, trying to deliver a fiery speech to rally the public to his cause and mobilize Turkey for the war against the Soviet Union. In this he was widely believed to have failed, his speech doing little to contain dissent as rumors spread of Ataturk being in increasingly poor health. A similar failure developed in attempts to contain Kurdish dissent, as promises fell on deaf ears. Riots soon turned to uprisings as the Kurdish rebels found themselves increasingly better armed, and then it became outright rebellion. Following surprise assaults on several garrisons, a large mountainous region around Lake Van has been liberated by Kurdish militias led by the brothers Mustafa and Ahmed Barzani. With the most prominent Kurdish leaders in exile or imprisoned in Iran and Turkey, the brothers have declared an independent Republic of Kurdistan, surrounding themselves with what is rumored to be foreign advisors.

Bloodshed in Armenia

By and large, the struggle between the Soviet Union and the original members of the Eurasian Alliance took place in the Armenian SSR, which had answered the call of Marshal Tukhachevsky and rallied to arms for the purposes of revenge. Thus, the Armenian SSR became the staging point for an offensive into Turkey led by a Soviet corps under General Dietary Pavlov, who hoped to enlarge his ranks with Armenian volunteers. To say that his offensive was a disaster would be an understatement, his units immediately ambushed and disrupted by local partisans - thought to be Georgian or Azeri rebels - just as they suddenly had several Turkish and Iranian divisions on their path. At the Battle of Kars, Pavlov suffered a humiliating defeat and took major casualties, being forced to withdraw back to Armenia. Despite the crisis, Armenians successfully rallied behind the Red Army by forming multiple divisions of volunteers. Though short on training and weaponry, high morale and difficult terrain ensured a subsequent push into Armenia by the Turkish and Iranian troops stalled before it could reach Yerevan.

Ufa in Ruins

Despite the best attempts of Soviet authorities to contain Muslim dissent across Central Asia, various appeals proved unsuccessful as guerrilla warfare continue unabated, further disrupting Soviet authority as local officers were forced to rely on the overstretched NKVD and Red Army to maintain orders and battle insurgents in bloody skirmishes. Matters came to a decisive climax within the industrial city of Ufa, in the Islamic-majority autonomous republic of Bashkiria. Following intense street protests and major propaganda warfare, several organizations of Muslim workers rose up in revolt against the "Godless Marshal", expressing a sudden, almost apocalyptic fear of continued Soviet rule. Seizing over the factories and the key railway station, the insurgents have managed to cut the Trans Siberian Railway in a second spot, further complicating Soviet logistics, disrupting industrial production - much of which was to be shipped to Japan - and presenting the largest challenge to Tukhachevsky's regime thus far.

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

Having reserved the biggest blows for Poland and Romania, the Red Army nonetheless struck against the Eurasian Alliance in yet another front at the end of 1938, choosing the Kingdom of Afghanistan - arguably the weakest Alliance member - as its target. Taking advantage of the truce with Nanjing, Red Army units were redeployed into a new force across the Uzbekistan and Tajikistan SSRs. Led by Mikhail Kirponos, the Soviet expeditionary corps faced enormous odds despite its clear technically superiority, being severely outnumbered and having a major - some would say unrealistic - goals to clear in a single campaign. As Kirponos met the Royal Afghan Army at Mazar-i-Sharif, Prince Mohammad Daoud expected an easy victory. However, Kirponos won the day, inflicting a crippling defeat on the Afghan Army and seizing control of several northern provinces. Unable to cross the Hindu Kush and move towards Kabul due to limited resources, Kirponos has immediately written to Moscow, urging for mass reinforcements to occupy the country.

East Asian Front

A Desert Covered in Blood

With the sudden arrival of the Sino-Soviet truce, the temporary end of operations in Mongolia made it possible for the NRA and the Northern Coalition to mass troops into Manchuria proper, having chosen to try and push into the jewel of Japan's continental possessions with a pincer movement. At the north, the Chinese cavalry and Zhang's battle-hardened veterans faced Field Marshal Sugiyama, who had been able to spend most of the summer building fortifications and preparing for such an offensive. Despite having the advantage, Sugiyama struggled to maintain logistic support for his divisions, a problem amplified by the impossibility of using tanks in several areas. A crisis ensued in November when the cavalry divisions broke through the main line, threatening to resume the push into Inner Manchuria. Although Sugiyama's men acquitted themselves well, Manchukuo troops fared particularly badly due to low morale, resulting in the slaughter of entire brigades against cavalry assaults.

In the end, Sugiyama plugged the gap with his reserves until the arrival of rain made the terrain even more difficult to cross, putting an early end to the Chinese offensive which, while unsuccessful, forced the Japanese to sustain heavier casualties. A different story took place southwards, as a new Chinese offensive targeted the city of Chaoyang. An inability to seize the city due to the resistance of the garrison resulted in both sides having to escalate and send increasing numbers of reinforcements, turning the entire area into a graveyard of trenches. Wave after wave of Chinese troops crashed against the Japanese defenses, only for every Japanese counterattack against the Chinese positions to be bitterly resisted. As the year drew to a close, the Chinese offensive came to an end, costing upwards of 15,000 men to both sides. On the bright side for Beijing, Marshal Zhang has recovered from his wounds, and is expected to return to the field in January 1939.[/justify]

The Sieges of Beijing and Tianjin

In turn, the main Japanese effort in the north by the end of 1938 was focused on the coastline, aiming to secure the Yellow Sea for good. Victorious in the Shandong campaign, the armies there pushed northwards with significant success, finally engaging the NRA forces that had retreated before by defeating them in the Battle of Canhzhou. Broken, the NRA was forced to move westwards, making it more difficult to reinforce Tianjin and Beijing. In turn, another Japanese pincer moved from Manchukuo after months of careful preparation, destroying an entire Corps of Zhang loyalists and badly mauling several Chinese divisions. Having thus cleared the way up in the north, Japanese forces moved in, encircling both Tianjin and Beijing - whose garrisons refused to surrender - and closing Chinese access to the Yellow Sea for good.

The Second Battle of Nanjing

Having recovered from his wounds after a successful raid on his Manchukuo HQ, General Hideki Tojo found himself the new commander in Central China, tasked with the task of seizing Chiang's capital and capturing a vital region for the KMT. Whilst Tojo planned and prepared for a long-term campaign, a series of probing attacks allowed him to slightly expand his perimeter towards Hefei. Before he could make progress, he was stunned by an unexpectedly fierce KMT offensive, which had committed some of its best divisions - French-trained - to attempt a major push towards Changzhou. Having successfully identified a Japanese feint southwards, General Bai Chongxi committed his forces and led a major breakthrough, defeating and virtually destroying an entire Japanese division at the Battle of Changzhou. Pushing eastwards, Bai reversed recent Japanese gains and provided Nanjing with breathing room, before his offensive stalled due to increasing shortages of supplies, a consequence of the Japanese blockade.

The Civil War Reignited

The revival of the Chinese Communist Party after almost being destroyed had caused alarm in Nanjing, even if a number of factors posed a major challenge in Zhang Guotao's quest to lead a major comeback. Promptly, several Chinese divisions - many of them warlord-led - moved from Anhui to destroy Zhang's second largest Soviet, resulting in the first major battle between the NRA and the Communists since the 1935 campaigns. Over the next three months, most of the "Anhui Soviet" was destroyed, forcing the local Communist forces of Lin Biao to trade territory to save their forces, successfully evading an encirclement to flee westwards. Victory proved costly, with the warlord armies - short on ammunition- performing poorly and suffering heavy casualties, but another potential threat to Nanjing had been removed. Zhang, in the meantime, enjoyed a new base of support in Xinjiang and increasing militia success in Yunnan, but would continue to struggle from the fall-out of the Soviet intervention and the ensuing unpopularity of his cause. Mass appeal for the Communists in China, it seems, will remain an unlikely proposition.

[Lumine]

January 1st, 1939

List of Conflicts:

German-Entente War Republic of France, British Empire (UK, Australia and New Zealand), Kingdom of Belgium vs. German Reich (1938 - Present)

Serbo-Bulgarian War: Kingdom of Bulgaria vs. Kingdom of Greater Serbia (1938 - Present)

Soviet-Eurasian War: Soviet Union vs. Eurasian Alliance [Poland, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Romania] (1938 - Present)

Great East Asia War: Republic of China and Warlords vs. Empire of Japan and Manchukuo (1937 - Present)

[Lumine]

End of 1938

In the News:

TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR: Mikhail Tukhachevsky

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE: Not awarded (No suitable candidate)

The Republicans are Back?

Party recovers from 32' shellacking despite House losses,
Isolationism gains strength, America First movement on the rise,
Despite Congressional defeat Borah remains popular, if uninspiring

There are times in which the Republican Party can hardly believe its luck, having come so close to complete obliteration five years before the FDR Administration unexpectedly and dramatically unraveled. Although there are still large parts of America in which a Republican candidate - particularly one linked to Herbert Hoover - can't show up without getting insulted, it is no less certain that the party is electable once again. This, in turn, has been fueled by the continued fallout of the previous administration, a relatively successful consolidation of the isolationist vote, and, perhaps controversially, due to the Borah Administration, which continues to puzzle Republicans whilst showing signs of appeal to the Average Joe. Wisely sidestepping a prolonged fight over the Supreme Court, Borah ensured a subtle turn towards the right while appointing a single conservative and two moderate justices, to the approval of Chief Justice Hughes and the Senate, and the frustration of the conservative wing of the GOP.

Faced with a passionate challenge from Mexican President Cardenas, Borah was quick to institute sanctions that have caused some harm to the Mexican economy and ramp up oil production in the US. While such a response may have disappointed the oil barons, keen to see Cardenas taught a valuable lesson - thus redirecting their funds to the Democratic effort in November -, it certainly did not bother public opinion. Through the year, the White House followed a similar pattern, adopting actions that, while bothersome to specific groups, never courted the sort of controversy experienced by the disgraced FDR, whose ongoing trial and eventual conviction - avoiding, nonetheless, prison time - remained a huge weakness for the Democrats. As November approached, a GOP message of a return to normalcy and civility, appeared to be a winning one.

The only major defeat of the Borah administration has arguably been in the realm of foreign policy, with an American public becoming ever more isolationist after the controversial intervention in the Chaco War and in spite of the arrival of dramatic conflict across Asia and Europe. The non-partisan America First Movement, founded early in the year, has exploded in terms of membership as countless Americans rally against involvement in the present conflicts, supported by a Congress determined to maintain the emasculation of the President's foreign policy powers over the Neutrality Acts. Borah, while taking a firm stance of neutrality and a pledge of no troops sent abroad, chose to pick a fight with the Senate on account of the Pittsburgh Agreement, a proposed loan to the beleaguered French Republic to acquire American tanks and heavy equipment. Despite Borah's every effort, the Senate narrowly voted down the agreement and remained obstinate on its stance that no belligerent country should be armed.

Come November, President Borah suffered reasonable losses in the House compared to his predecessors, with only 11 incumbents going down in defeat. The big story of the night, however, was the Senate. Defending only three seats on account of the dramatic bloodbath of 1932, Republicans could afford to go on the offensive, and they did. Vulnerable seat after seat fell as Republicans won again in previously reliable states lost in 32', stacking up an impressive gain of nine seats that gave them control of the Senate and greatly simplified future confirmations. In spite of this, as much as four to five additional seats - particularly in California and New York - escaped the GOP's grasp, which many blame on partial backlash to the Pittsburgh agreement and support for two isolationist Democratic incumbents.

It was also a big night for the unofficial leaders of the America First movement: Aviator Charles Lindbergh (R), now the Senator from New Jersey, and former Secretary Joseph P. Kennedy (D), the new Governor of Massachusetts.

1938 US Senate Election:

Party		Seats
Republican Party		50 (+9)
Democratic Party		45 (-9)
Farmer Labor Party		1 (=)
Total		96 Senators

1938 US House Election:

Party		Seats
Democratic Party		250 (+12)
Republican Party		181 (-11)
Farmer Labor Party		4 (-1)
Total		435 Representatives

The Red Napoleon

Mikhail Tukhachevsky emerges as the new Soviet strongman,
Historic Party Congress embraces the World Revolution,
New Congress of Soviets elected amidst major reforms

It was only a year and a half ago that Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky had been branded a traitor by the short-lived General Secretary Kirov, marked for death in an unusually public manner. Nowadays, Tukhachevsky has rapidly and dramatically filled the void left by the missing - officially imprisoned - Josef Stalin. Tukhachevsky, who has earned the nickname "The Red Napoleon" on account of his military background, Bonapartist tendencies - according to his critics - and his reformist drive, has rapidly dismantled the remnants of Stalin's legacy and brought newfound pluralism to the Soviet state, a feat achieved with the rare accomplishment of not giving up much power in the process. Factional strife was brought to a sudden end on the first months of 1938, with Stalin's surviving deputies - led by Vyacheslav Molotov - being systematically purged, tried and for the most part executed, rapidly followed by the bulk of Tukhachevsky's fellow generals: Voroshilov, Budyonny and Timoshenko. The sole prominent Stalinist survivor remains the missing Nikita Khrushchev, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

The purge of the Stalinists, enacted by a rapidly growing NKVD - which alongside the Red Army has become a pillar of the Soviet state - marked an apparent end to the chaos, with the subsequent Party Congress - still formally the one called in 1936 - featuring a dramatic speech by the GKO Chairman. In it, Tukhachevsky extended an olive branch eagerly accepted by the delegates of the Left and Right Opposition, equally delighted and terrified at the purge of the Stalinists who had once purged them. Promising reform and (limited) democratization that appeal to the right, Tukhachevsky won over the left by ditching the concept of Socialism in one country, replaced with Trotsky's old theories of Permanent Revolution. The delegates were quick to catch-on, joining in denunciations of Stalin's autocratic tendencies and praising the Marshal - or Chairman Mikhail, as Mikhail Kalinin called him - for offering a "fresh new start" for the Soviet people and the Soviet state.

In spite of reports that the various fronts and the war mobilization pushed by Tukhachevsky have been unpopular or, at best, received with apathetic disdain by the average Soviet citizen, the Party's elites have been quick to embrace the rhetorical shift, and much propaganda has been spread across the USSR and its Asian satellites calling on workers to spread the revolution - within the accepted definition dictated by Moscow, that is - through their hard work. Perhaps the crowning achievement of the erasure of Stalin's legacy has been the historic return of Leon Trotsky from exile after an invitation from the Chairman. His previous charges for various "crimes" dismissed, Trotsky - who fled Paris before the Germans seized the city - landed on Central M. V. Frunze Aerodrome to adoring crowds and the few of his loyalists to survive, some of them just freed from prison. Although Trotsky is said to have serious policy disagreements with Tukhachevsky, his return has done much to fix the rift within the Comintern, further enhancing the image of a less oppressive Soviet Union.

All of this led to elections in November 1938, organized under a new set of rules which, nonetheless, continued to apply the principle of indirect election to the eventual representatives to the Congress of Soviets. As the public voted on for various electable and non-partisan Soviets, the Soviets elected their own representatives for the Congress in December, choosing solely between Communist Party members or Communist-friendly independents. Although to describe the elections as partisan would be inaccurate, the surviving factions have made efforts to promote friendly candidates, and the major groups are expected to be represented in the new Congress. Turnout was reasonably high in spite of disruption by the war effort, the only major exceptions being areas experiencing major ethnic strife or revolt.

1938 Soviet Legislative Election:

Party		Votes (%)		Seats
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)		92%		1437
Communist-aligned Independents		8%		63
Total				1500 Representatives

1938 Congress of Soviets:

Faction

Seats

Tukhachevsky Faction		744 (49,6%)
Right Opposition		289 (19,3%)
Trotskyites		168 (11,2%)
New Opposition		134 (8,9%)
Ethnic and Regional bloc		102 (6,8%)
Independents		63 (4,2%)

The Rising Age of Oil

Despite dominance of coal, petroleum rises in importance,
Previous US dominance slowly challenged by emerging powers,
Access to oil may prove vital to current belligerents

Although any economic expert will acknowledge that coal is still the leading energy source for most of the world, and is expected to remain so for several years into the future, the same experts are ever more eager to recognize that oil is increasingly relevant to the modern economy, particularly in light of the start of generalized conflict across Eurasia. And whereas the United States, the British Empire, the Soviet Union and the German Reich continue to lead the way in coal production - followed at a long distance by Japan and France - the club of oil producing countries show more variety, even under the strict dominion of a hegemon. Across the decade and for most the century, the United States of American has reigned supreme in sheer volume, its oil companies amassing wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. However, only in the last decade American oil production - despite increasing - has seen its share of the market drop from almost two thirds to only 55%, a sign of changing times.

Much of this drop can be attributed to the US's three major rivals in oil production: the Soviet Union, which remains a formidable producer despite losing ground after years of political strife; Venezuela, one of the few remaining safe havens for companies wary of nationalization, ever expanding as they avoid drama; and the Eurasian Alliance bloc, which, by pooling together its considerable resources - if under the irony of having their unofficial leader in Ankara being the sole non-producer -has gained significant ground and, for all purposes, become a serious contender by having doubled production in five years. Certain governments have been far quicker to acknowledge the potential importance of this energy source, with the dramatic nationalizations in Mexico and the Middle East providing them with far more control over oil production, at the cost of the sheer anger of major oil companies - which are US, British and Dutch based -, many of them expected to start taking action to correct this major show of defiance as their own governments fail to reverse these developments.

The importance of oil, as leading economists point out in recent publications, is likely to expand significantly as a result of the new conflicts. Although mechanization is very limited in most armies - even in the Soviet and German ones, the latter of which in particular heavily relies on horse transport -, it is rapidly growing, and ever larger airforces, tank divisions and navies consume prodigious amounts. And whereas neither the Soviets nor the Eurasian Alliance have to be concerned about running out of oil, the opposite applies to Japan, China, Britain, France, Italy and Germany, all of which are vulnerable one way or the other. On the brighter side of the equation lay Japan, which has received a major lifeline due to its trade agreements with Moscow; Italy, unaffected by blockades and able to access trade; and the British Empire, which, though now cut off from the cheapest source of oil in the Middle East, can at least pay for American deliveries across the Atlantic.

China, of course, lies blockaded and unable to access major trading powers. And the issue is of special danger to France and to Germany, both of which depend on deliveries of Romanian oil - as the biggest European exporter - to sustain their armies. The approach of the Red Army to the Ploiesti oilfields has already disrupted exports to France almost entirely, which is likely to force the government in Bordeaux to seek immediate replacement. For Germany, blockaded in the North Sea, the challenge is greater still, as oil supplies will be decisive to maintain and win the struggle against the Entente.

Oil Production, January 1939

Country

Market Share

United States		55,5%
Venezuela		12,0%
Soviet Union		11,1%
Eurasian Alliance		11,1%
Dutch East Indies (NLD)		3,2%
Mexico		2,8%
Colombia		1,2%
Argentina		1,1%
Trinidad (UK)		0,8%
Peru		0,8%
Canada		0,4%

* IRAN: 5,0% / ROMANIA: 3,0% / IRAQ: 2,8% / EGYPT: 0,3%

A Nation Beneath the Waves

Death toll in the Netherlands reaches 200,000 and counting,
refugees number in the millions, LON mission arrives to provide aid,
Amidst exodus, Queen Wilhelmina inspires a shell-shocked public

As European and American journalists visit partly flooded cities or towns, they have come to recognize a familiar expression in the faces of the Dutch. For those who saw the carnage of the trenches twenty years ago, it is altogether similar to the expression of those had been pushed beyond their mental limit, in what became known as "shell-shock". As the journalists write back to their homes - with the BBC taking on a leading role in denouncing atrocities to the rest of the Commonwealth -, it is difficult to blame them. As thousands remain missing, the Dutch government has updated the death toll resulting from the destruction of the dikes to around 200,000. Half of the population have lost their homes or found them ruined, resulting in millions of refugees struggling to find a place to go. Crossing into Belgium means entering a war zone, and the Belgian Army has had to deploy several divisions - badly needed on the frontlines - to contain people trying to cross the border.

Crossing into Germany, for obvious reasons, is something of a taboo. Only the most desperate refugees do so, and all too often they come back with a mark of shame. Many have fled into Soviet vessels despite their distate for the politics of the Red Napoleon, and many more - perhaps dozens of thousands - fight for a spot in the large South African armada that has arrived to take refugees back to the Cape. Those unwilling to leave behind their nation yet unable to live there have also secured seats in ships traveling to the Dutch East Indies, but only a small minority has braved such a difficult journey. Even with so many Dutchmen fleeing the country, it is a herculean task to keep those left fed and properly housed. In a particularly dark irony, this tragedy has given the still gridlocked and increasingly collapsing League of Nations a rare opportunity to act, having been empowered to work closely with the Dutch government to battle famine and provide assistance. As more LON personnel and volunteers arrive, their presence has already been judged vital to stop the death toll from multiplying due to malnutrition.

Still, it is likely to be the darkest of winters for the nation. Even if a large part of the flooded regions is only under a meter of water, that is still enough to make life impossible. Experts disagree on whether rebuilding the dikes will take years or actual decades. And while the Dutch government has refrained from declaring war on Berlin after the attack due to the impossibility of offering resistance, it is not yet clear whether the nation has escaped the worst. For now, Queen Wilhelmina has emerged as the symbol of the nation, ceaselessly touring affected areas, giving morale-raising speeches, and promising that the nation will be rebuild whatever the cost. Making a personal vow, the Queen has also promised to see that those responsible pay the price for their actions, a pledge which, while popular, appears most unlikely to be fulfilled.

[Lumine]

The Balkan Quagmire, Part II

Bloodless coup firmly pushes Serbia into revanchist camp,
Pavelic embarrassed by local defeats, Communist rebellion starts,
Jozef Tiso survives assassination attempt, NKVD agent caught

On December 24th, 1938, Monsignor Jozef Tito - Acting President of the Republic of Slovakia - delivered a speech on the liberated city of Bratislava, paying tribute to the Slovakian, Hungarian and German forces that freed the town and promising that, at long last, Slovakia would be sovereign and free of any future Czech domination. His speech was interrupted by a powerful blast, which killed two dozen Slovaks and injured Tiso. Agents of the Rodobrana, the new regime's paramilitary force, immediately sprung into action. Three days later, after a shootout in an apartment complex, two men were arrested as having taken part in the assassination attempt. One of them was identified as an agent of the NKVD, who is also suspected of having taken part in multiple operations in foreign soil under Beria and now under NKVD Director Yagoda. Tiso wasted no time in launching a tirade against the Soviet Union, blaming Moscow for the attempt against his life. Anti-Communist groups have been quick to seize on Tiso's words, suggesting that the NKVD has been responsible of a long list of foreign assassinations that may include the successful murder of Engelbert Dollfuss, Andrej Hlinka and Ma Zhongying.

Across the new Italian possessions in the Balkans, some semblance of order was restored to the new Kingdom of Albania, which recognized King Victor Emmanuel III as its sovereign whilst a military occupation secured the populated areas of the country. Skirmishes have been reported between the Italian forces and the militias loyal to King Zog, although neither have the Italians chased the rebels into the mountains nor have the militias managed to gain any ground. The opposite is true within Croatia, as Ante Pavelic's regime appears to be crumbling before the concerned eyes of Rome. Although overtures to the more conservative elements of the HSS have successfully led to their integration within the government machinery, Pavelic's regular forces have been dealt a string of embarrassing defeats, often requiring the intervention of Italian forces. With every defeat valuable equipment has been left behind for the HSS to employ, and, in December, the HSS revolt scored its first major victory, ambushing and destroying an entire brigade of Pavelic loyalists in a mountain ambush.

Another surprise for Zagreb has been the sudden rise of another opposition movement, this time far into the east. Having previously worked with the HSS out of convenience, a series of left-wing militias supported by the new Communist Party of Croatia have seemingly broken with the HSS, forming their own movement and launching a successful uprising in the latter part of 1938. Their leader, Josip Broz, also known as "Tito", has used this victory - mauling another of Pavelic's brigades - to assume the mantle of General Secretary of his party. Framing the struggle against Pavelic as a larger fight against injustice and foreign domination, hundreds of volunteers are said to be joining Tito's ranks, although his true effectiveness as a resistance leader is yet to be seen.

In the meantime, in Belgrade, recent Serbian defeats against the Bulgarian Army have seemingly led the young nationalist Colonels to lose patience with their government. On October 5th, tanks were seen advancing on the streets of Belgrade and driving all the way to the Royal Palace, from which a uniformed man forced to wear a hood was pushed into a tank and taken away. Later that night, it was announced via radio that Regent Milan Nedic has suffered a non-fatal heart attack, forcing him to stand down. The next day, Chief of the General Staff Petar Pesic was announced as the new Regent, the Cabinet being reshuffled to incorporate more military ministers. By all accounts, Pesic has been elevated as a figurehead regent, the true power being in hands of a hardline faction led by General Draza Mihailovic (new Chief of the General Staff); ideologues Stevan Moljevic (Minister of the Interior) and Dragisa Vasic (Prime Minister); and academic Mladen Zujovic (Foreign Minister).

On his first speech to the troops, General Mihailovic has spoken of the need to "finish the job" in terms of rooting out disloyal elements, and has promised to clean Serbia of enemies.

India speaks out!

Failure to call General Election causes fierce backlash,
New INC President Bose calls for mass civil disobedience in India,
Riots leave hundreds dead, leave Viceroy Linlithgow in difficult position

Back in 1935, Ramsay MacDonald's decision to push ahead with a controversial form of Indian Home Rule - which passed narrowly and destroyed the National Government - seemed to offer a way out of the tensions that threatened to engulf the Indian subcontinent in violence. And while certainly dissatisfied with a measure that did not provide them with long-desired independence, Nehru and Gandhi's Indian National Congress (INC) certainly looked forward to showing its strength on the planned General Election for the new Dominion. 1936 went by without the elections being formalized, the outgoing MacDonald choosing to take his time in preparing the electoral background. Then 1937, which saw Chamberlain too preoccupied with the Middle East, around the same time that Indian Muslims saw mass anti-British protest as Muhammad Ali Jinnah's All-India Muslim League (AIML) broke away from the INC and demanded a nation or Dominion of its own for Muslims. And then 1938 came and went. Having had three Prime Ministers in a row refusing or ignoring the calls for the elections to take place proved to be a step too far.

The INC, further radicalized in a way that surprised and stunned the British authorities, had seen an internal struggle of its own, in which hardliner - and avowed socialist - Subhas Chandra Bose succeeded Nehru as INC President, overcoming the opposition of Gandhi himself. Bose, unlike Gandhi, had no determination to stick with a policy of non-violence. Thus, as soon as Viceroy Lord Linlithgow began to take steps to mobilize Indian resources for the war in Europe, Bose struck. Delivering a speech to a crowd in Calcutta numbering in the dozens - perhaps hundreds - of thousands, Bose stated that British promises would no longer be listened to, and British imperialism no longer tolerated. Announcing his intention to boycott any future elections, Bose demanded immediate and total independence for India, marking the start of a "Quit India" campaign with an open call for mass civil disobedience across the nation.

Over the next few days, most of India's largest cities have been paralyzed with strikes and riots as Viceroy Linlithgow and the British Raj administration scramble to maintain control. While not joining Bose on his campaign, Jinnah and the Muslims have also agitated in the own way, denying Linlithgow the support of either community and making his job next to impossible. Hundreds, if not thousands, are dead, and the Viceroy is said to be five minutes away from having Bose and Jinnah arrested in a bid to retain control.

Decisive Times for the Commonwealth

Edward VIII rallies the Empire, calls Dominions to join war,
Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany,
Canada and South Africa under pressure to join

After several months of tension between King Edward VIII and Neville Chamberlain, observers noted with interest the start of an apparent truce between 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, with the Monarch seemingly cooperating with Lord Halifax in the task of mobilizing the Empire in the struggle against Hugenberg and the Kaiser. In a radio speech subsequently broadcast to the whole Empire, the King-Emperor made a point of denouncing the "Mad Kaiser’s genocide", calling on his subjects and indeed, the whole Empire to resist the Germans and declare war on Berlin. The first to answer the King's call was Michael Joseph Savage, the recently re-elected Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand. Denouncing German aggression with passion in a Parliamentary speech, Savage was received with boisterous cheers as he proclaimed "Where Britain and the King stand, we stand!".

Next came Australia. In contrast to the muted final months of Jack Lang in office, Prime Minister Billy Hughes showed unbridled enthusiasm as his new government, defying its small majority, successfully ditched the NHS pilot, formed a multi-party National Defence Committee, rammed the ratification of the Statue of Westminster through Parliament, and, when the time came, wasted no time in reorganizing the government to meet the challenge. Having failed to attract the support of the Labor Party - which supported the war but refused a coalition -, Hughes was able to use the crisis to counter the distrust of the Country Party leader Earle Page, who finally joined a War Coalition as the new Deputy Prime Minister. With Parliament having voted overwhelmingly for war, a more muted reaction in the streets has been countered by a refusal to enact conscription, which, in turn, might limit the future Australian contribution. For now, it is expected that New Zealand and Australia will be able to send forces to Europe as fast as mid-1939.

This, in turn, left South Africa and Canada, both of which have been subject of intense propaganda from London describing the atrocities in the Western front and playing the King's Speech whenever possible. In the former, few expect Smuts' loyalties to lay anywhere else than with supporting the Empire, but South Africa, otherwise occupied with Dutch immigration and controversial outreach to South West Africa and Rhodesia, is yet to declare war. In Canada, R. B. Bennett has pursued major reforms and large-scale preparation for a conflict, overcoming distrust and dissent though use of carefully built political capital. Most recently, an emergency session of Parliament saw a motion condemning Germany and Poland - the latter over its invasion of Lithuania - pass overwhelmingly. Still, even as the Conservative Party is pressuring the Prime Minister more and more to declare war, opposition is still significant, with Quebec - now the impregnable stronghold of the Liberal Party - standing on the way.

[Lumine]

Turn VII: 1939

The Cast:

German Reich: Chancellor Alfred Hugenberg (Mr. X)
United States of America: President William Borah (S019)
British Empire: Prime Minister Edward Wood, Viscount Halifax (Dereich)
Soviet Union: Chairman Mikhail Tukhachevsky (Lakigigar)
Empire of Japan: Emperor Hirohito (Devout Centrist)
Republic of France: Prime Minister Henri Giraud (YPestis25)
Kingdom of Italy: Duce Benito Mussolini (KaiserDave)
Republic of China: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (Kuumo)
Republic of Turkey: President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Spiral)
Union of South Africa: Prime Minister Jan Smuts (Ishan)
Kingdom of Hungary: King Otto II Hapsburg (AverageFoodEnthusiast)
Polish Republic: President Adam Koc (Windjammer)
Kingdom of Romania: King Carol II Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (Muaddib)
Kingdom of Bulgaria: Tsar Boris III Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (OBD)
Commonwealth of Australia: Prime Minister Billy Hughes (GoTfan)
Dominion of Canada: Prime Minister R. B. Bennett (DKrol)
Zionist Congress: Chairman David Ben-Gurion (New York Express)

Economic Performance:
Polish Republic: High
Kingdom of Italy: High
Union of South Africa: High
British Empire: Moderate
Empire of Japan: Moderate
German Reich: Moderate
United States of America: Moderate
Dominion of Canada: Moderate
Zionist Congress: Medium funds available
Republic of France: Weak
Soviet Union: Weak
Republic of Turkey: Weak
Kingdom of Bulgaria: Weak
Commonwealth of Australia: Weak
Republic of China: Very Weak
Kingdom of Romania: Very Weak
Kingdom of Hungary: Very Weak

Popularity:
Chancellor Hugenberg: Very High
King Otto II: Very High
President Kemal: High
Duce Mussolini: High
Generalissimo Chiang: High
Emperor Hirohito: High
Prime Minister Smuts: High
President Koc: High
President Borah: High
Chairman Tukhachevsky: High
Tsar Boris III: Medium
Prime Minister Bennett: Moderate
Prime Minister Giraud: Moderate
Chairman Ben-Gurion: Moderate
Prime Minister Halifax: Moderate
Prime Minister Lang: Low
King Carol II: Low

Mobilization Level:
Total Mobilization: None
War Mobilization: Republic of China, Empire of Japan, Republic of France, Soviet Union, Polish Republic, Kingdom of Bulgaria, German Reich, Republic of Turkey, British Empire, Commonwealth of Australia, Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Romania
Partial Mobilization: None
Conscription:  Kingdom of Italy
Volunteer Army: United States of America, Union of South Africa, Dominion of Canada
Demilitarized: Zionist Congress

[Lumine]

German Reich:

Chancellor,

At long last, the black, white, and red Imperial Flag flies over Paris, a feat not achieved since 1871. Over the past six months the Reichswehr has virtually conquered Czechia and battled its way through Belgium and Northern France, and the Luftwaffe has proved itself a worthy challenger to the RAF. Still, as winter arrives, casualties are mounting, the Kriesgmarine has taken a pounding, and the increasing level of involvement of the Commonwealth in support of Britain seems to open up the prospect of another long Great War, the loss of which might prove catastrophic. For now, at least, German military power is at its strongest since 1914, the Reichswehr growing ever larger as mobilization takes place. For better or worse, the fate of Germany rests in your hands, and decisions must be made on the war, on Czechia, on Memel, and such other issues. Can you lead the Reich to the promised land?

With the constitutional four-year term close to expiring, the 400-seat Imperial Diet is up for it second election in October, having served as a reliable rubber stamp with only isolated debate prompted by Goerdeler’s unofficial and “loyal” opposition. In light of the war, you must now decide whether elections should move forward, and whether the present arrangements – under which your German National Front (DNF) is the sole legal party – are fit for purpose. Despite your ongoing popularity in light of the Reich’s exponential growth and success, even within German conservative nationalism there is some dissent. Many Generals, for one, resent the war in the first place. The Kaiser, it is rumored, is beyond furious that his father’s life was endangered by the blowing of the Dutch dikes. And there are quite a few ambitious wolves posing as sheep within the DNF.

The Royal Navy blockade of the North Sea has brought grim memories of the Turnip Winter and the Great War, and German exports are already notoriously down as trade with the United States is the biggest casualty. The blockade certainly isn’t airtight in terms of all the possible routes, but still, it will require creativity to see that the German war machine can access the resources and raw materials it needs to fuel its efforts against the Anglo-French Entente. Ultimately, no issue is as pressing as that of oil. The horse-based Reichswehr may not entirely depend on it, but the Kriesgmarine, Luftwaffe and the Panzers do. For the most part, the Reich depends on Romanian oil to avoid the blockade, a lifeline which is now threatened by the rapid approach of the Soviet armored columns into the vicinity of Bucharest and Ploiesti. How will you keep the Reich supplied with oil?

British Empire:

Prime Minister,

Britain and most of the Empire are now at war. Thanks to your leadership and that of the King, New Zealand and Australia are now formally part of the war effort, but it is unclear whether Canada and South Africa – both vital for different decisions – will join in the struggle as well. Still, no issue is as dangerous to the Empire as that of India, which is on the brink of civil war thanks to Bose and his INC. Viceroy Linlithgow has already written urging you to make a decision, including on whether – as he requests – Bose, Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah and all the other troublemakers ought to be jailed before things spin out of control. The issue is not an easy one to address, but India’s economic and manpower importance to the war effort, and its emotional relevance to the Conservative Party, all conspire to make it a priority after years of neglect.

The British Expeditionary Forces has acquitted itself well against the mighty Reichswehr, but Paris has nonetheless fallen and the new, untested Premier may not last longer than Herriot. To make matters worse, the daring German aerial raid has battered the RAF, leading to panicked calls in the House of Commons to withdraw resources – particularly planes – from France to further safeguard the British islands. Thus, as 1939 dawns you will have to carefully balance the political vulnerability of the French government with domestic pressure, although with the important benefit of only having – for now – one specific front to deal with. Britain and the Empire will certainly be looking to you for leadership to achieve victory, but can you do better than Asquith and Lloyd George in their day?

As Eden’s profile rapidly grows by account of being the government’s voice in the Commons, parliament slowly starts to take shape after two turbulent years. New Progressive and Labour leaders Archibald Sinclair and Stafford Cripps offer support for the war effort, but have declined to join a coalition unless a firmer offer can be put on paper. Comrade Harry Pollitt champions the virtues of a larger alliance with Moscow to smash fascism, and Oswald Mosley clamours for an anti-Communist front to save Poland and Romania. Lloyd George champions pacifism to whoever will listen. The Conservative hawks are back in the fold, Churchill and Cooper both in the Cabinet, and to the calls for total unyielding war against Germany they add demands for immediate intervention in the Middle East to recover the sources of cheap oil. It will take political talent to dance around these personalities, Prime Minister. Can you do so successfully?

Republic of France:

Prime Minister,

Your fierce – if strategically unsuccessful – performance in the Marne and the successful Battle of the Seine have propelled you from leadership of the 7th Army to the Premiership in an unexpected course of affairs. Now France’s leading military hero, your dark-horse candidacy before the National Assembly suddenly materialized into reality, with the moderate right, the radicals and some socialists voting for you in if only to avoid Laval from taking over. And while your tenacity may have worked wonders on the battlefield, it will be quite a task to mobilize a terrified nation and paralyzed government into action. From Bordeaux, you must now assemble a cabinet and government, restore confidence, decide what to do about the troublemakers, and see if you can outlast Herriot as the Battle of France is quite literally being fought. Are you up to this monumental task?

Although General Elections are not scheduled for another year, 1939 marks the end of Albert Lebrun’s presidential term. The Presidency may not have been of particular importance over the past few years as Lebrun prioritized staying on Daladier’s good graces, but it takes on added relevance as the National Assembly debates the prospect of peace and resistance. Already the Socialists (Albert Bedouce), the Radicals (Henri Roy), and the moderate right (Fernand Bouisson) have broken away from Lebrun to present their own candidates. So will the Communists, if they return to the National Assembly from hiding. To make matters more confusing, Laval – still acting as Foreign Minister - is on maneuvers, talking up the irresistible prospect of Marshal Pétain or even Herriot, still recuperating. How will you deal with this political web of intrigue?

The loss of Paris and the industry in the north is devastating to the French economy, if not entirely crippling. On the bright side, some industries were relocated in time and others build in areas currently free of occupation, but still very much vulnerable to German armored power. On the darker side, the sudden halt to Romanian oil being shipped across the Mediterranean – attributed to the Soviets approaching Ploesti – leaves France with a short term shortage that must be addressed; and the US Senate has rejected a loan that would have been of assistance. It is clear that France will need economic assistance to keep government functioning in the long-term, with many at the Treasury keen to seek such support from London. Others, in despair, talk even of Rome, willing to pay the Duce’s price to keep France in the fight. What will you do?

United States of America

Mr. President,

It is now two years after the Borah administration has taken office, the middle of what should be – in an optimistic scenario – your first term in office. Although the House has seen losses, the recapture of the Senate has showcased that the Republican Party is competitive again, an achievement that offers you a new window of opportunity to push an agenda amidst deep personal divisions in the Democratic Party, and some ideological ones in yours. This, in turn, gives birth to new disagreements. Conservatives and progressives want the White House to use its mandate to make a firmer ideological push. Vice President Roosevelt is pleased with the notion of the return to normalcy, but insists on pushing the administration to mimic Teddy Roosevelt. And Former President Hoover, championing the midterms as the vindication of his legacy, is mobilizing his supporters to return to active politics. How will you navigate these complex political waters?

The Republican capture of the Senate, ironically, is in no way a guarantee of Presidential freedom of action, not when it comes to foreign affairs. The rejection of the Pittsburgh Agreement showcases that Congress is in no mood to return to the Presidency the powers it took under FDR. Not just that, but American isolationism is stronger than ever before, with the non-partisan America First Movement gathering thousands – millions – of followers as ever-growing audiences tune in for Governor Kennedy and Senator Lindbergh’s thoughts on how to keep the nation out of the Eurasian conflicts. Still, it must be said that the interventionist minority has gained some steam after the fall of Paris, and even America First champions a strong national defense. Others, like the oil barons who swung Democratic in protest, would have you stay away from Europe but take a tougher line on Cardenas, Atatürk, and those who have harmed US companies by nationalizing oil.

Perhaps one of FDR’s most controversial and unsuccessful proposals was a drastic liberalization of immigration policies in America, widely credited with helping him lose seats in the 1934 Midterms. After five years, the issue has reared its head again. The outbreak of general war has led to a wave of refugees seeking to enter the United States, adding significant pressure on ports of entry which, operating under the Immigration Act (1924), can only allow small national quotas into the country. Matters are made worse by the fact that total year migration quotas for all of France, Belgium, Romania and the Netherlands – the ones with the biggest flux of refugees – are under 10,000 people. This, in turn, leads to a spirited debate in Cabinet between the benefits of skilled migration and the popularity of current restrictions. What stance will you take on refugees?

Soviet Union

Comrade Chairman,

In what can be described as the most dramatic year in the Soviet Union, Stalinism has been utterly cast aside in favor of a new vision. Although it is perhaps too soon to talk of “Tukhachevsky-ism” or anything of the sort, you’ve certainly left your mark as Soviet citizens have gone to the polls to (indirectly) elect a Congress of Soviets in which your supporters have a near-majority by themselves. Once again, there is active political and ideological debate, if with due deference to the GKO Chairman. The question, of course, is where to go from here. Should the de-facto nature of the State Defence Committee be maintained? Will you seek to assume a different office with more streamlined responsibilities and powers? Or, after such reforms, will you take one step further and reform the Soviet constitution entirely to leave your mark on it?

In accordance to the theory of permanent revolution, the Red Army is now fighting in Poland, Romania, Armenia and Afghanistan, having just recently started a ceasefire across the Far-East. Although losses continue to mount – with Romania in particular looking like a graveyard thanks to Marshal Blyukher – mobilization ensures that there will be no shortage of men, though how they perform and how well equipped they end up being is rather a different matter. The Eurasian Bloc has been dealt an important blow, but it still stands after a year of warfare, and your personal intervention in the Polish front raises the possibility of a major duel of prestige between yourself and President Koc, the heir to your old foe Marshal Pilsudski. Much is at stake. Can you successfully lead the Soviet Union to victory, and thus enhance your status?

The return of Trotsky to USSR – coupled with the reappearance in public life of figures like Nadezhda Krupskaya, Lenin’s widow – has done much to heal the rift within the Comintern, with several Trotskyites allegedly returning to their local Communist Parties outside the USSR to resume joint efforts. Still, years of uncertain leadership and repeated crackdowns have left international Communism in a difficult position. The German communists live in exile, the Czech, Romanian and Spanish have been all but crushed, and only in isolated countries – particularly in South America – one can see much hope for the future. Not only that, the commitment to permanent revolution might well draw a target on their back whilst they look towards Moscow for leadership, and for guidance on how aggressive or cooperative they should be with the fascistic “social democrats” or “socialists”. How should the Comintern act under your new regime?

Kingdom of Italy

Duce,

Europe is at war. The Kingdom of Italy, praise God, has avoided the worst so far, rapidly becoming the strongest European nation not formally at war. It is uncertain, however, for how long can such a difficult stance to be maintained as the conflicts escalate, blockades are put in place, and key resources are placed at risk. Nowhere this is as painfully evident as with coal and oil, the key ingredients to the process of Italian industrialization which, having recently stalled, shows promising signs of picking up again. Still, the Soviet approach to Ploeisti endangers one of the oil routes, and taking sides in dispute could well result in the US, the Eurasians or the British cutting off supplies. A similar issue arises with coal, with Germany being a key lifeline across the Brenner Pass. As you carefully ponder on how to act, can you keep Italy a contender without endangering the key resources it needs?

Much as Italian troops have fought efficiently in the Balkans, it is becoming clear that guerrilla warfare and pacification is an altogether different beast to conventional war, particularly when it comes to Croatia. The Pavelic regime is requiring more and more resources as opposed to being the once hoped for source of further income, and its battlefield and material losses to the HSS and now to the sudden Communist rebellion are forcing the local Italian commanders to risk their own men as the death toll rises. And while Albania may be firmer in terms of control, the mere talk of Italianization has given the pro-Zog resistance a lifeline, which they use to try and hang on. One cannot ignore the events in Belgrade either, the Bulgarian-Serbian stalemate pushing the irrational colonels into ever-increasing depths of revanchist despair. What will you do about the Balkans?

Your international statute rose heavily as a result of your call to action against Marxism and Communism, serving as a prime motivator to the tens of thousands – perhaps as much as 100,000 – of volunteers in the International Legions currently fighting across Romania. And yet, Marshal Tukhachevsky has managed to prevail, slowly and painfully, on the first assault. Sanation and the Soviets trade blows in the Carpathians, Istanbul burns, and the Red Army’s armored columns approach Ploiesti and Bucharest. It is a difficult situation, made worse by the impossibility of Italy to match up in industrial power. And yet, there are those who feel only a bold gamble can spare Europe from the Communist threat, and that only the Duce can lead the Crusade. How will you follow up on your historic speech?

[Lumine]

Empire of Japan

Your Majesty,

After one eventful year at war, the Imperial Japanese Army has gained significant ground, but it has not delivered the knock-out blow many Generals expected and/or even promised. Aside from some significant victories such as the Shandong campaign and the recent triumph near Beijing, the National Revolutionary Army has proved a worthy foe, one capable of inflicting heavy casualties even as their lack of resources starts to show. Nor is Chiang seemingly closer to accepting a diplomatic exit, not even after the Soviet intervention and the pact that has greatly alleviated the Empire’s chronic lack of raw materials and resources. With the coastline all but seized – other than the blockade fortress port of Guangzhou -, and Nanjing resisting, it is time to decide whether the IJA ought to push deeper no matter the cost, or whether the answer to the Chinese campaign lies elsewhere. How will the war be prosecuted this year?

The removal and purge of the Kodoha faction, aside from disrupting the Kwantung Army – which has only now returned to some normalcy thanks to Tojo and Sugiyama – also had the drawback of disrupting the administration of Manchukuo, chaotic as it was. Amidst talk of the new officers sharing into some of their predecessor’s dealings and attitudes, a stream of pleas has continuously flooded the Imperial Residence, all of them straight from the capital city of Changchun/Hsinking. Emperor Puyi, nominally the Emperor of Manchukuo – a title he resents – has been in a frenzy since the start of open warfare against Nanjing, openly lobbying – whenever Sugiyama’s control slips – for an opportunity to regain the Mandate of Heaven and end the Manchurian experiment for good. Crowning Puyi – currently locked in a vicious spat with Empress Consort Wanrong – could certainly be a way to establish a collaborationist regime, but it could well burn any hope of an accord with Chiang. What should be done with Puyi and with Manchukuo in general?

Republic of China

Generalissimo,

It has been a difficult year. Not only have the Japanese gained ground and directly threaten Nanjing, Tianjin and Beijing, but the Communists are back, and the treacherous Soviets have grabbed Xinjiang and openly sided with Tokyo in their imperialistic adventure. And yet, where there is darkness, there is also hope. Marshal Zhang is back on the field, drawing fanatical loyalty from his men. The pressure on Nanjing has been relieved up to a point. An entire Soviet has been crushed. And horrific as Chinese losses has been, the IJA doesn’t lag far behind on casualties. Plainly speaking, the war stands at a decisive moment in terms of the ability of the Japanese to truly penetrate Chinese territory and stay for good… or for China’s ability to strike back against the invader. As Wang and his defeatist faction continue to wallow in pessimism, what are your orders for the 1939 campaign?

The NRA has shocked foreign observers due to its ability to fight back and resist the Japanese, widely attributed due to experience gained in the Civil War and by French assistance in training. However, the Japanese blockade of the seas – with only a handful of blockade runners ever reaching Guangzhou – is placing increasing strain on the army, with the threat of shortages of supplies, weapons and war material ever rising. As Finance Minister H. H. Kung warns, China must find a way through that blockade. With the Soviet routes seemingly closed due to Marshal Tukhachevsky’s hostility, many look towards British Burma or, better still, French Indochina, with either colony having some potential as a supply route. However, it is not entirely clear that London or Paris, both of which are locked in a death struggle with Germany, would want to risk Tokyo’s wrath. Can you find a way through this blockade?

Polish Republic

Mr. President,

Less than twenty years after the first titanic struggle between Poland and the USSR, both nations are at war again. Marshal Pilsudski is no longer with you, but Marshal Tukhachevsky is back on the field as the leading enemy commander. As many point out, either he will have his revenge for the Battle of Warsaw, or you will deliver another Miracle on the Vistula. As the Polish citizenship mobilizes into the Army and the factories do what they can to provide military equipment – a task which demands increasing numbers of raw materials, no longer accessible via sea due to a Soviet naval blockade – you, Rydz-Smigly and the Generals face a mighty enemy, but one that you know can be defeated. What will be your orders for the 1939 campaign? Can you give Tukhachevsky and his “Red Hordes” another bloody nose?

As the Lithuanian government collapses and his few survivors flee into exile, the Polish Army has now fully occupied Lithuania. Much of the nation has been taken intact, but the port of Klaipeda has been utterly wrecked, and the German-majority city of Memel continues to send petition after petition to Berlin to be allowed to enter the Reich. And while Lithuanians may not have started guerrilla warfare yet, it is clear the Polish Army is not received as a liberation. This, in turn, leads to the question of what is to be done about Lithuania. Many Pilsudski loyalists have not forgotten the Intermarium and the old glorious past of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and believe there will never be a better time for annexation and/or federation. Others have grown too fond of Polish nationalism, and would be wary of annexation should it mean empowering the Lithuanians. What will you do with this occupied nation? Or should its fate wait until after the war is over?

Republic of Turkey

Mr. President,

As you survey the burnt remnants of Golcuk Naval Base, it is unavoidable to conclude that Turkey faces its greatest threat in decades, greater still than the – still present – prospect of British retribution over the Oil Crisis. Much of the Turkish Navy has been destroyed. The Turkish Air Force, while showing unforeseen skill in terms of pilots, is starting to experience severe attrition in terms of planes. The Army has acquitted itself well on Kars, but the struggle in Armenia promises to be very bloody. And, from Afghanistan, Zahir Shah begs for equipment and reinforcements as the route to Kabul is being opened by the Red Army. On industrial and military might Turkey may not be able to compare to the USSR, but the nation has gone from strength to strength even against the odds. Even as you feel your health to wane, can you lead Turkey to another victory?

As the Eurasian War takes shape, domestic and international consequences have also shown up. Despite the Latin American triumph, further diplomatic exploits have stalled as potential partners are either fearful of British or Soviet retribution, or recoil at the thought of being dragged into a war. Young Farouk, previously so enthusiastic about the Alliance, grows colder as he reckons with a war he never expected to be a part of. After four years, elections are scheduled for this year, and many wonder if they will be held at all. And most pressingly, the Kurds have revolted again, this time posing a greater challenge than ever before to Faisal and yourself as their militias come armed with modern weaponry. And while not an existential threat, they certainly are a threat to be taken into account as the Soviet borders lie uncomfortably close to the areas under rebel control. Having smashed the Kurds several times in the past, can you do it again?

Kingdom of Romania

Your Majesty,

Against the odds, the Romanian Army has bested the Red Army and held firm for over nine months, quite an accomplish in light of Soviet boasts that resistance would be finished in weeks. And yet, recent defeats in light of overwhelming enemy superiority in numbers and equipment pose an existential challenge, with Blyukher’s armored forces almost on the gates of Bucharest and Ploiesti. There is fear in the capital, and the monarchy’s standing has continued to suffer. Even so, thousands of international volunteers fight like lions, and the Army, forced to bend, has not broken. International aid might be crucial now if Romania is to stand a chance – even with the Eurasian Alliance behind it -, but your conduct may well be of greater importance. Will you defend Bucharest to the last man? Seek a redoubt from where to continue the struggle? Gamble it all on a counteroffensive? Offer terms? Or perhaps, find a gilded cage in exile? What will it be, Your Majesty?

Union of South Africa

Prime Minister,

As ship after ship carrying Dutch refugees arrives in Cape Town, the grim reality of the war in Europe is brought over to the Union. The refugees themselves arrive dismayed regarding the weather, yet grateful for their savior. Their arrival, however, has courted controversy in both parties. Your dominant South African Party has been wrecked by the arrival of thousands of Dutch Jews, with many backbenchers demanding specific limits on their numbers. And the National Party is seemingly split, welcoming the arrival of white European immigrants at the same time it continues to champion immigration controls to prevent the arrival of undesirables. And as the controversy flares up, so does the issue of whether to go to war. The National Party bitterly champions neutrality, rejecting both Britain and Germany. Your own record calls for support for the King and the Empire, but the controversy over Rhodesia and South West Africa makes it a bitter pill to swallow. What will you with the refugees and about the war?

Kingdom of Hungary

At long last, one of the three humiliations imposed by the Third Balkan War has been avenged. Czechoslovakia is no more, Hungarian troops occupy much of Slovakia and Sub Carpathian Rus, and ecstatic crowds – their enthusiasm not diminished by the grim economic outlook – cheer for the King, who has made good on the legacy of his family. Still, tough decisions are to be made. Ukrainian nationalists have started to request the establishment of a Ukrainian state in Sub Carpathian Rus, and while President Tiso may be willing to concede Hungarian ethnic-majority areas of Slovakia due to the reality on the ground, the Slovaks have grown quite enamored of the prospect of autonomy and independence. Not only that, Hungary is now technically at war with the Anglo-French Entente, and the rise of the Soviets in the east and Serbian revanchist in the south all pose problems of their own. How will you handle these developments?

Commonwealth of Australia

Prime Minister,

Although the arrival of war has not been well received thus far, the refusal to institute conscription has certainly lessened the backlash. Not only that, the new Coalition government between the UAP and the Country Party is now established with a solid majority, and even the Labor Party partakes in the National Defence Committee. Australia is therefore at war, but it is no altogether clear how it will contribute to the British war effort. Thanks to current efforts, the military is confident as much as two divisions could be sent to Europe by the middle of the year if its judged safe to leave Australia without experienced units, but forming more will require a significant surge in volunteers and, more important, access to military equipment. Having entered into war only a few months after regaining the premiership, your involvement may well be the issue that defines the rest of your eventful political career. How will Australia fight this war?

Kingdom of Bulgaria

Your Majesty,

As the war with Serbia continues and trench warfare grows bloodier every day, it is now time for Bulgaria to hold a new General Election. With the earlier restoration of democracy in 1934 involving the banning of extreme parties, only two coalitions are to be formally on the ballot: the incumbent moderate-liberal Popular Bloc of Prime Minister Mushanov, who, while relatively subservient, is keen to find a compromise with Serbia; and Atanas Burov's Democratic Alliance-NLP bloc, which is demanding a tougher line on the Serbian war whilst upholding the belief that the Monarch's powers should continue to be restricted. Both alliances, however, are splintered, wth several independents threatening to run, all while the extremist Communist Party and the fascist-leaning Bulgarian National Legion stage protests in Sofia demanding to be allowed to run. As ever, ambitious courtiers urge you to get rid of the whole lot, seizing power in a royal dictatorship to ensure there are no distractions while Belgrade is defeated. What will you do?

Dominion of Canada

Prime Minister,

As the months pass, preparations started years ago start to bear fruit, significantly expanding Canada's ability to withstand aggression as the nation draws closer to war. Thus far, the government has avoided a major controversy - with Parliament quickly passing the Emergencies and Disasters Act amidst Liberal protests and the Electoral Reform Act utterly stalling -, but as the King's speech is re-broadcast again and again and the BBC rallies against Germany and the Kaiser on a daily basis, pressure is mounting from the Conservative benches to declare war. This, in turn, is met with repeated warnings from the Liberal Party and other minor parties, some of which do not appear keen to rush into the conflict. Perhaps more importantly, Quebec is reported to be bitterly opposed to any conflict that might involve conscription, which already threatened to split the nation apart back in 1917. Can you successfully resist the pressure to go to war to pursue other goals? Or, will you take Canada into the conflict and fight the opposition to it?

Zionist Congress

Mr. Chairman,

The struggle for a Jewish Homeland has been a long and bitter one, but years of leadership and your recent tenure as Chairman of the Jewish Agency have led to you and your Labor Zionism tendency being seen as the most powerful voice for the Zionist movement. Indeed, only Ze'ev Jabotinsky's Revisionists (who champion a Greater Israel, through violence if need be) and Chaim Weizmann's Practical Zionists (encouraging immigration to Palestine above all) come close. Several motions regarding a Jewish homeland have been defeated in the League of Nations, and anti-British and pro-Arab riots in 1935 and 1937 have endangered Jewish migrants in Palestine at a time in which the rise of the Eurasian Alliance appears to pose a major threat to a diplomatic solution to the issue. The Soviet Union has recently championed the cause under Marshal Tukhachevsky, but its Jewish Autonomous Oblast is both distant and, some claim, almost inhospitable. As the new conflict offers new opportunities, you must decide how to further your cause and which strategy to follow. What will you do, Mr. Chairman?

[Lumine]

World War II - Early 1939

List of Conflicts:

German-Entente War Republic of France, British Empire (UK, Australia and New Zealand), Kingdom of Belgium vs. German Reich (1938 - Present)

Serbo-Bulgarian War: Kingdom of Bulgaria vs. Kingdom of Greater Serbia (1938 - Present)

Soviet-Eurasian War: Soviet Union vs. Eurasian Alliance [Poland, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Romania] (1938 - Present)

Great East Asia War: Republic of China and Warlords vs. Empire of Japan and Manchukuo (1937 - Present)

Military Info:

For the purposes of the present conflict, we will be using quality measurement for airforce and navy, and divisions for the land forces. Individual divisions, depending on the country, can field between 10,000 and 25,000 men, meaning that there will always be a fog of war as to actual number of the enemy, and whether these divisions are battered or in top shape. You're always encouraged to leave at least a few units home in case of unforseen developments. At every half of the year (Early and Late) you will have new divisions available depending on your mobilization state, policies, losses and the context of the war.

The Armies of the World:

German Reich
160 Divisions total
100 Division Western Front
50 Division Eastern Front
10 Division Reserve Army
New divisions available: 20

British Empire
32 Divisions total
12 Division BEF
10 Division Territorial Army
6 Division Middle East Command
2 Division Far East Command
2 Division Africa Command
Extra Divisions: 12 Indian Colonial Divisions (can't be shipped away due to strife)
New divisions available: 3

Republic of France
98 Divisions total
90 Division Western Front
4 Division Army of North Africa
2 Division Army of Levant
2 Division Army of Indochina
Extra Divisions: 7 African and Asian Colonial Divisions / 20 Belgian Divisions / 7 Czech Divisions (trapped)
New divisions available: 15

Soviet Union
200 Divisions total
120 Division Western Front
15 Division Caucasus Front
25 Division Central Asia Front
25 Division Far East Front
20 Division Central Front
Extra Divisions: 6 Mongolian, Xinjiang and Tannu Tuva Divisions
New divisions available: 30

Kingdom of Italy
50 Divisions total
12 Division Army of Libya
8 Division Balkan Armies
30 Division Army of Italy
Extra Divisions: 1 Slovenian and 3 Croatian Divisions
New divisions available: 0

United States of America
10 Divisions total
New divisions available: 0

Empire of Japan
50 Divisions total
5 Division Home Army
15 Division Kwantung Army
30 Division Army of China
Extra Divisions: 5 Manchukuo Divisions
New divisions available: 3

Republic of China
250 Divisions total
70 Division National Revolutionary Army
90 Division Warlord Armies
10 Division Ma Clique Army
40 Division Northern Coalition Army
40 Division Southern Coalition Army
New divisions available: 20

Eurasian Alliance
120 Divisions total
42 Division Army of Romania
30 Division Army of Turkey
20 Division Army of Iran
15 Division Army of Iraq
3 Division Army of Egypt
Extra Divisions: 5 International Legion Divisions
New divisions available: 5 ROM / 3 TUR / 2 IRN / 1 IRQ / 1 EGY

Polish Republic
60 Divisions total
45 Division Eastern Front
10 Division Western Front
5 Division Army of Lithuania
New divisions available: 5

Commonwealth Armies
10 Divisions total
4 Division Army of Canada
3 Division Army of South Africa
2 Division Army of Australia
1 Division Army of New Zealand
New divisions available: 0

Kingdom of Bulgaria
20 Divisions Total
15 Division Army of Macedonia
5 Division Home Army
New divisions available: 4

Kingdom of Hungary
30 Divisions Total
20 Division Army of Slovakia
10 Division Army of Hungary
Extra Divisions: 3 Slovak divisions
New divisions available: 3

Kingdom of Greater Serbia
25 Divisions Total
15 Division Army of Macedonia
10 Division Army of Belgrade
New divisions available: 4

The Navies of the World:

British Empire: Carrier-based / Very Large
United States of America: Carrier-based / Very Large
Japanese Empire: Carrier-based / Very Large
Republic of France: Battleship-based / Large
Kingdom of Italy: Battleship-based / Large
German Reich: Battleship-based / Medium
Dominion of Canada: Carrier-based / Small
Soviet Union: Battleship-based / Medium
Republic of Turkey: Battleship-based / Small
Commonwealth of Australia: Cruiser-based / Medium
Republic of China: Destroyer-based / Small
Union of South Africa: Small vessel-based / Very Small
Kingdom of Bulgaria: Small vessel-based / Very Small
Polish Republic: Non-existent
Kingdom of Romania: Non-existent
Kingdom of Hungary: Non-existent

The Air Forces of the World:

German Reich: First-Rate / Very Large
British Empire: First-Rate / Large
Japanese Empire: First Rate / Large
Republic of France: High Quality / Large
United States of America: High Quality / Medium
Kingdom of Italy: High Quality / Large
Polish Republic: High Quality / Medium
Soviet Union: Low Quality / Very Large
Dominion of Canada: Medium Quality / Medium
Republic of Turkey: Medium Quality / Small
Commonwealth of Australia: Medium Quality / Small
Kingdom of Romania: Medium Quality / Small
Kingdom of Bulgaria: Medium Quality / Small
Republic of China: Low Quality / Small
Kingdom of Hungary: Low Quality / Small
Union of South Africa: Low Quality / Small

[Lumine]

THE DAWN OF THE LEAGUE OF ROME

The LEAGUE of ROME

We assembled, the governments of the Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of Hungary, Tsardom of Bulgaria, Independent State of Croatia, and Republic of Slovenia resolve to an alliance of mutual defense and security for the defense of civilization, the rights of our national communities, and protection of southern Europe from external threats. The Duce of Italy, Admiral-Prime Minister of Hungary, Tsar of Bulgaria, Poglavnik of Croatia, and President of Slovenia recognize one another as invaluable partners in the struggle for the rights of the nation against the forces of terrorism and ultraliberalism. The Tsar of Bulgaria, King of Hungary, and King of Italy recognize one another on the level of their ancient, august, and noble houses as equals and allies in the struggle for God, Fatherland, and Family against encroaching forces of chaos and degeneracy.

Signatories agree to defend each other by force of arms in the case of attack

Signatories agree to coordinate on matters of security and defense

Signatories agree to coordinate and cooperate for matters of mutual economic benefit, and provide preference for one another in trade and international commerce

Signatories agree to cooperate in areas of suppressing internal subversives and malcontents

Signatories agree for joint military planning and cooperation in peacetime

xIL DUCE, Benito Mussolini

x Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria

x Otto II, King of the Hungarians

x Anton Korosec, President of Slovenia

x Ante Pavelic, Poglavnik of Croatia

[Lumine]

EVENT

Spanish government falls!

Straperlo scandal ends up claiming Lerroux's position,
President Alcalá-Zamora calls for elections rather than elevate the right,
Spanish conservatives vow to establish a Catholic corporative republic

After five turbulent years in government, centrist Prime Minister Alejandro Lerroux has seemingly reached his political demise, throwing the nation into a major political crisis. After his first unstable ministries, Lerroux was substantially empowered by his effective response to the failed Revolution of 1934 and the brief Spanish Civil War (1934-1935), in which Catalonian nationalists, the trade unions and the political left was smashed to pieces. Having found his opportunity to leave his mark, Lerroux struck hard in 1936 by banning Spain's main trade unions, left-wing newspapers and separatist parties. Establishing a large patronage machine that directly addressed local issues, enacting Basque autonomy, Lerroux should by all rights have triumphed in his gamble to launch an election that same year.

That he did not had a lot to do with the growing corruption within his centrist PRR, with a scandal known as Straperlo rapidly reaching out all the way to Lerroux's cabinet colleagues and quickly grabbing the press' attention thanks to Lerroux's many rivals. Instead of a triumph, Lerroux saw the right-wing and passionately Catholic CEDA skyrocket in the polls, cementing itself as Spain's largest and most powerful confederation of parties. Indeed, he was only spared from having to step down thanks to President Alcalá-Zamora, who, in spite of deeply disliking Lerroux, could simply not stomach CEDA out of fear its increasingly authoritarian leader José María Gil-Robles would dissolve the Republic and institute a dictatorship. For two years the balance held, with Lerroux resisting a relentless press campaign to destroy his image as the CEDA left the government and made his life a living hell.

In the end, press reports - unconfirmed, as it later turned out - that Lerroux's nephew and his adopted son were to be charged with bribery sealed his fate. President Alcalá-Zamora sacked him. Instead of finally relenting to the CEDA, the President has made a desperate gamble, appointing a caretaker PM - personal friend and moderate centrist Manuel Portella - and calling for a General Election in the hopes of stopping the CEDA. For his part, Gil-Robles and his comrades have reacted badly to being foiled yet again, and have mobilized to form a large right-wing alliance to win the 1939 election, an effort which has nonetheless been slowed down by the demands of other right-wing parties in regards to an eventual restoration of the monarchy.

As the Spanish left tries to rebuild itself and the President attempts to mobilize a new centrist alliance to replace Lerroux's decaying PRR, Gil-Robles - who has declared his intent to impeach the President and replace the parliamentary Republic with a Portuguese-style Catholic corporative Republic - looks like the man to beat. Thus, the fate of the Spanish Republic will be decided upon in the next few weeks.

[Lumine]

Peace Treaty between the Kingdom of Egypt and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Article I: Recognition of Sovereignty

1. The Kingdom of Egypt and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) recognize each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

2. The Kingdom of Egypt and the USSR agree to respect the territorial integrity of each other and to refrain from any actions that may be considered as a threat to the other's territorial integrity.

3. The USSR agrees to protect the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Egypt from any foreign invaders or interests.

Article II: Economic Cooperation

1. The Kingdom of Egypt and the USSR agree to establish economic cooperation in order to promote the development of their economies.

2. The Kingdom of Egypt and the USSR will exchange experts, technicians, and scientists in order to promote scientific and technological progress.

3. The Kingdom of Egypt and the USSR agree to trade with each other on the basis of mutual benefit.

Article III: Ratification and Entry into Force

1. This treaty shall be subject to ratification by the Kingdom of Egypt and the USSR.

2. This treaty shall enter into force on the date of exchange of instruments of ratification.

Done at Cairo, in 1939, in two copies, each in the Arabic and Russian languages, all texts being equally authentic.

x Farouk, King of Egypt

[Lumine]

The World War

January 1939 to March 1939 (Part One)

"I have had the opportunity to witness many hells, and to have ones even worse described to me in great detail. And there once came a time in which I felt nothing could be worse than a Verdun. And up to three weeks ago, I believed that sincerely, even with all the reports we hear about this ___damned hell of a war. That was before I saw Buzau. I don't think anything can shock me to my core now. I'm starting to doubt I even have one anymore. I see corpse after corpse after corpse without a single bullet wound, and my mind still struggles with the thought. Hell is on earth. Hell is on Romania."

(Ernest Hemingway, reporting for the North American Newspaper Alliance)

Western Front

Battles of Roye, Péronne and Arras

In the aftermath of the triumph at Cambrai, Jean Blanchard was promoted to Marshal, leaving for Orleans to assume the overall command of the Western Front. His replacement in the 1st French Army Group, General Corap, was immediately tasked with the job of pressuring the northern German lines, further tightening their supply lines whilst reinforcing the recent "Somme salient". To his opposite side, Günther von Kluge and Army Group B had received massive reinforcements as trainloads of German divisions became available from the Czechoslovakian front. It was time for both armies to clash. Corap's probing attacks soon became engulfed in the German offensive as the armies fought the Battle of Roye, in which Kluge's reinforced columns drove the BEF westwards and destabilized Corap's units. Seizing the moment, the armored columns managed to reengage the war of movement, bypassing newly built fortifications and forcing a general French retreat to avoid encirclement.

At the Battle of Péronne, Kluge won a resounding victory, with German chemical attacks causing mass casualties - with disproportionate numbers of dead compared to wounded -, destroying a number of French and Belgian divisions and forcing Corap to abandon the salient won last year. Kluge now had a open route to the Pas de Calais, which was immediately exploited. At the Battle of Arras, however, Corap turned the tables, stopping his retreat and holding his ground as the BEF harassed the German flank with mass usage of phosgene and mustard gas. Though protected, German troops nonetheless experienced mass casualties as the number of wounded multiplied, threatening to collapse the army hospital and, as a result, the supply line. Urged not to push too far, Kluge was forced to stop and consolidate, but not before the BEF's chemical attacks ravaged an entire corps.

We'll always have Paris...

Defeated by Giraud at the Seine before his elevation to the premiership, Walther von Reichenau nonetheless benefited by his conquest of Paris, allowing for his return to Germany for immediate promotion. Fresh from relative success at the Aisne, Erwin von Witzleben assumed joint command of Army Groups A and C, with Giraud's replacement General Condé taking command of the 2nd Army Group. Both armies spent the bulk of winter building large fortifications and trenches, turning the areas between Chartres and the Seine into a heavily fortified fortress. Limited movement was reported until March, when a French attempt to goad a German attack that was to be met with mustard gas bombardment failed. In a series of skirmishes, the French sustained significant casualties, further disrupting their efforts as the German stronghold over the capital grows more powerful. Just as concerning, the mass usage of chemicals from the Pas de Calais to the Seine is starting to alarm prominent scientists, who believe the ground in some rural areas is starting to be poisoned, an ominous development before the spring harvest.

The Race to the Saarland

Paralyzed after the setbacks in the west, the French forces in the Saarland and occupied parts of Germany had been at a defensive stance for several weeks, enough time to fortify their positions at a level that, nonetheless, could not compare to the Siegfried or Maginot lines. With the arrival of Gerd von Rundstedt, several veteran divisions from Czechoslovakia and a large Hungarian Expeditionary Corps - numbering as high as a dozen divisions -, the 4th Army Group was decisively outnumbered. Von Rundstedt's successfully defeated the 4th Army Group, going as far as encircling an entire corps before it could reach the Saarland. Against the odds, the corps stood its ground and refused to surrender, buying precious time until the French forces could regroup back inside the Saarland. Before relief could be provided, the French corps was destroyed through superior firepower. However, it had stalled the Germans long enough: though all territory conquered by the French in the fall had been retaken, the Saarland remained in French hands.

The Battle for National Morale

It soon became apparent to foreign observers that General Giraud and Chancellor Hugenberg both realized quickly the importance of the struggle, and the need to mobilize public opinion in their favor. Giraud struck first, issuing a stirring call to arms that urged defiant resistance and promised victory. Initially successful in providing the necessary push to mobilize resources and consolidate Giraud's position in the National Assembly, Giraud achieved an additional accomplishment when sudden reports of a refusal to accept a "reasonable peace" with Germany were either discredited or fell on deaf ears. However, recent horrific losses in the battlefield - far superior to German ones this season - have somewhat lessened Giraud's appeal, with the National Assembly still behind his commitment to continue the war but with vaguely pro-peace forces gaining ground.

In Germany, Hugenberg radically reorganized his government, bringing in several heavyweights and promoting Catholic participation through multiple promotions. In a highly publicized speech, the Chancellor matched Giraud's passion by promising victory and revenge. Soon afterwards, General Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck, the Lion of Africa, arrived in Paris as the new Reichskommissar of France and Belgium. Under the first few weeks of his rule, attempted sabotage by anti-German resistance forces across occupied territory have resulted in heavy losses for the rebels, not managing to significantly disrupt enemy logistic in what is, nonetheless, a serious act of defiance.

Eastern Front

Czech defiance comes to an end

Despite the decision of Jan Syrovy and the Cabinet to surrender Prague and the Czech government, resistance in Czechia proper continued during late 1938 and early 1939 due to the refusal of several Czech divisions to surrender. With most of them installed in the large fortified borders or in rural areas, a series of mop-up operations ensued as General von Bock and new Reichskommisar von Reichenau resolved to cleanse the fallen nation from any attempts at resistance. The Czech divisions, it was reported by the few journalists still operating from Prague, fought bravely and bitterly, inflicting substantial casualties before being forced to surrender one due to a lack of supplies, ammunition, and having no hope of relief nor the required geography for sustained resistance. The last division, led by General Lev Prchala, made its last stand on the Sudetenland, being destroyed in the last week of March. A few days ago, the death of General Syrovy was reported by the German authorities, said to be a heart attack.

Lithuania changes hands again

Although the most intense events of the Eastern Front would take place to the south, the most significant Soviet triumph was staged in the Baltic front, which had gone temporarily silent after the fall of Lithuania. From Warsaw, President Koc had made a historic declaration: that the historic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, gone for centuries, was now to make a return. Although the promise of autonomy and universal suffrage was enough to sway some of Smetona's opposition to tolerate Polish rule, the announcement was met with either disdain or indifference across the occupied nation, with plans to create Lithuanian divisions failing due to a lack of volunteers and disruption of recruitment. From the Belarussian SSR, a Soviet army led by Konstantin Rokossovsky - its ranks swelled with Belorussian volunteers - moved eastwards, opening a corridor within the Polish fortification in a costly assault that opened up the gate to Vilnius. Under orders to evacuate to avoid encirclement, General Rómmel and the Polish Army withdrew back into its powerful fortifications across the old Polish-Lithuanian border, allowing the Red Army to occupy most of Lithuania without inflicting a crippling blow on the Poles. Perhaps ironically, Soviet attempts to enlist Lithuanian volunteers have met with the same disdain as with the Poles.

Galicia: The largest encirclement in history

His push into southern Poland stalled after the unyielding Polish defence of Przemysl, Field Marshal Tukhachevsky decided to resume attacks on the fortress city, thus doubling down on his goal of conquering the industrial Polish city of Krakow. Answering to the earlier usage of chemical weapons by breaking out the substantially larger Soviet stocks, the Soviets massive casualties on the Poles and pushed the defenders out, seizing Przemysl. Further victories followed at Sanok and Tarnow, causing panic as Tukhachevsky destroyed several Polish divisions, his armored vanguard approaching Krakow. Here Tukhachevsky was slowed down, falling ill with a horrifying and initially mysterious disease that was later to be revealed as an accute case of poisoning. With their admired commander incapacitated, the Soviet offensive slowed down.

This, in turn, was the moment chosen by the Poles to strike. Effectively sidelining Rydz-Smigly, recently promoted General Stanisław Maczek struck west of Lwow with the bulk of Poland's remaining armored forces and a heavy concentration of airpower. Aerial battles raged across the sky as skilled Polish pilots achieved temporary local air superiority, giving Macek his opportunity. Breaching the Soviet defences with suddenly replenished stocks of mustard gas, Macek pushed hard south as far as his tanks could go, disrupting the entire Soviet rear and forcing its commander to withdraw his units in a hurry to avoid encirclement. By the end of winter, aided by the roads becoming frozen solid, Macek managed to reach the Dniester at Stanislawow. In doing so, Macek had essentially encircled hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops across southern Poland.

The cost, however, had been heavy. Through winter attrition and battlefield loses Poland has lost the bulk of the tanks it had on the field in September, casualties have been heavy, and most concerning of all, aerial attrition has meant the loss of local aerial superiority, giving the Soviets a small respite. Before Marshal Tukhachevsky could order a breakout from the unprecedented pocket - said to be the largest in history to this date -, he was shot three times in a failed commando raid by ethnic nationalists, who, after extensive torture by the NKVD, were revealed to have been sent by Warsaw. With Tukhachevsky poisoned, heavily wounded and risking death, Chief of Staff Gamarnik has assumed temporary battlefield command.

Battles of Bucharest and Ploiesti

Stopped only a few kilometers outside of Bucharest, Marshal Blyukher felt victory was finally at hand. Romanian resistance, while far stronger than anyone could have forseen, ran a serious risk of losing the cities that sustained the entire war effort, and the loss of the capital could well push a war-weary public to the brink. At least, that was Bylukher's reasoning. Upon replenishing his battered forces - whose constant attrition was said to have all but erased morale -, the Marshal struck hard. So did the Romanian Army, gathering its last reserves for a counterattack. Both sides broke out large quantities of poison gas, a deadly struggle that saw most of the Ploiesti oilfields turned to rubble and several artillery shells filled with artillery reaching Bucharest, killing or crippling thousands. Whenever one side would deploy reserves, another would. Each time Blyukher would secure superiority, another army would come his way.

First the International Legions, bolstered after the opening of new routes and the arrival of new volunteers. Though much of them were slaughtered, vital time was bought. Then the Turkish Army, with several divisions crashing into Blyukher's ranks and preventing a push into the capital at a horrific cost. And then, unexpectedly, the Greek Expeditionary Corps, a five divisions that finally broke through the exhausted, traumatized Soviet lines and caused a rout. Romania had been saved. Blyukher, nonetheless, fully intended to regroup at Buzau, to try again in the coming season despite several divisions existing only on paper. And then the Luftwaffe arrived.

The Buzau Raid

Without bothering to declare war on Moscow, Berlin had decided the time was ripe to deliver a decisive blow to the Communist assault on Eastern Europe. Operating out of Hungary, several bomber squadrons from the Luftwaffe - fresh from successful raids over Britain - flew into Romanian territory carrying large mysterious canisters. Upon reaching Blyukher's retreating forces, they delivered their payload: the mysterious gasses that had been used to significant effect in the West. Now delivered airborne instead of through artillery, the effect was beyond deadly, and likely surprising for the Luftwaffe itself. Scores of Soviet troops fell dead, wounded or crippled, overloading the Soviet supply network, disrupting the entire army and causing untold panic as troops rushed to find refuge or leave the area. Although the dead are still being counted by horrified observers - many of whom also fall dead due to residues -, it is said that the death toll stands at dozens of thousands of Soviet troops. Among them, Marshal Blyukher, whose corpse - and that of his senior staff - was discovered lying on a road outside Buzau. As retreating Soviet troops fall back to the Danube, civilian casualties are also reported in the thousands, collateral victims of this historic - and terrifying - air raid.

Balkan Front

Serbian debacle in Macedonia

The Serbian offensive may have stalled at the end of December, but the new government, having decided on an even more radical course of action, was unwilling to let go of the initiative. Expecting that an assault on winter would be a surprise in light of the harsh weather, Serbian probing attacks against Skopje failed, encountering a large series of newly built trenches and fortifications which, reinforced by Macedonian militias, proved too large an obstacle. Unwilling to bleed themselves dry again, the Serbians turned to ingenuity. Suddenly refocusing their forces on the Macedonian-Albanian border, they managed another breakthrough and threatened to bypass and encircle the regional capital. In this they almost succeed, but, having been slowed down by impassable roads Bulgarian aerial superiority, they failed to advance fast enough before large-scale Bulgarian reinforcements arrived from Sofia. At the Battle of Debar, the 2nd Serbian Army was all but annihilated. In the face of crippling casualties, Serbian troops were forced to abandon Macedonia and retreat to Nis and Pec by the end of March. The Macedonian campaign was over.

Il Duce gets a bloody nose

Tired of ongoing resistance against the pro-Italian regime in Zagreb, Il Duce decided to put end to the whole affair and escalate the presence of the Royal Italian Army. Led by the recently promoted General Roatta, an entire army of three corps established a direct military occupation, immediately going on the offensive. In a series of skirmishes, the Italian forces recovered a substantial amount of territory, particularly from the HSS. Despite the limited nature of enemy casualties, the news were cause for optimism in Zagreb, even as repeated attempts to cause further defections from the ranks of the HSS - including an attempt to form a "National-Patriotic HSS", met with open derision - failed to materialize. Roatta, for his part, believed the insurgents were conserving their strength, only for his warnings to go unheeded by Pavelic's Croatian Home Guard. Suddenly making a reappearance, Pavelic's forces and a few Italian units were dealt separate defeats by HSS and Communist attacks.

Unwilling to disappoint Mussolini, Roatta immediately shifted resources around and send one corps each to target concentrations of enemy forces, aiming at an encirclement. He was to be disappointed. Outflanked by the HSS, Roatta's encirclement almost turned into a debacle as an entire division was crippled by a sustained guerilla assault, having to be saved by breaking the overall encirclement. While managing to save the division, the bulk of the HSS forces has managed to link up, abandoning their previous rural areas under control for the safety of the Dinaric Alps. Roatta's other corps was to find more success against Tito's partisans, which hadn't had enough time to properly organize and were fighting on flat terrain. Near Bjelovar, the Communists were defeated and their areas of control split in two, but not after inflicting substantial casualties on the Italians. Tito has now escaped with the core of his forces and staff, his whereabouts unknown.

In Zagreb proper, as scores of Italian propaganda raise fears and resentment against the revanchist Serbian state, some rebels avenged their comrades. An explosion at the Poglavnik's residence injured Pavelic, and killed one of his ministers. Further southwards, probing attacks in Albania against the resistance proved disappointing, the enemy fleeing into the mountains after once again inflicting disproportionate casualties.

[Lumine]

The World War

January to April 1939 (Part Two)

Eurasian Front

The Black Sea Raids

With Istanbul and the Bosphorus installations still being rebuilt after the damaging aerial and naval Soviet raid, President Atatürk resolved to respond directly to continued Soviet dominance in the Black Sea. Thus, a daring plan was devised, gathering the Turkish and the bulk of the Romanian and Eurasian airforces - with newly donated machines and led by pilots who had fought the RAF over Baghdad - to fly from Istanbul to target both Odessa and Sevastopol. It was to be a major gamble, risking invaluable aerial resources but with an opportunity to paralyze the Black Sea fleet and further endanger Soviet logistics in Romania. But it was not to be. Crimean Tatars, who would have been meant to support the raid, could not be properly equipped as the NKVD conducted dozens of raids, arresting hundreds. The Eurasian pilots encountered severe anti-aircraft fire both at sea and on land, were successfully targeted by larger - if less proficient - squadrons of Soviet fighters, and a series of mistakes resulted in further confusion. Sustaining crippling losses with only limited damage, airmen described as "Black Tuesday". Soviet aerial superiority in the Black Sea has now been secured, and the Eurasian alliance will now struggle to field sufficient planes in the skies

Stalemate in the Caucasus

As snow fell and covered the entirety of Armenia, both armies resolved to move into broadly defensive stances, averting the sort of carnage that took place in Romania and Poland. This, however, was in no way a suspension of hostilities. Taking advantage of superior numbers, the Turkish and Iranian forces ably used ambushes and artillery to disrupt the Soviet and Armenian positions, forcing them to make tactical withdrawals to avoid further balances. By the end of winter, the Soviets had been forced to cede some ground and further endanger Armenia, all while further disruption and disobedience behind the lines in Azerbaijan and Georgia undermined their logistics. However, several divisions of Armenian volunteers have been raised, the entire nation hard at work to turn themselves into a fortified country. Northwards, it was the Eurasian Alliance that was placed at a disadvantage, as an ambitious plan for an uprising that would target the Soviet oilfields turned into a disaster. Though initial attacks sowed some confusion, efforts to secure heavy equipment failed, and attacks on the oilfields were rebuffed at a heavy cost for rebel forces. By the end of the season, the Chechen militias had suffered the most, and were forced to return into hiding.

Ethnic warfare continues

With military offensives being limited in scale, it is increasingly clear that Ankara and Moscow are determined to destroy each other through ethnic warfare, with the capture of Turkish and Soviet spies and conspirators on both fronts increasingly preventing any plausible deniability. On the Eurasian side of the border, despite the departure of Egypt and the refusal of Syria to break neutrality, a few brigades of Syrian volunteers were raised to fight. Martial law helped contain the Kurdish uprising and interrogation uncovered Soviet support for it, but the Kurds have continued to reinforce and consolidate their positions around Lake Van. In a highly publicized speech, President Atatürk has denounced a Soviet conspiracy - the Balkan plot - to pit Balkan nations against each other promising territorial gains, a development which many link to Greek intervention on Ankara's side.

Within the Soviet Union itself, attempts to sway Muslim minorities with new philosophies and strands of thought have largely failed. But where the carrot fails, the stick shows promise, with the NKVD - ever more larger in size and personnel - working hard with local garrisons to suppress uprisings and prevent them from materializing in large cities. An attempt to emulate the Ufa uprising - which has not defeated yet, making logistical support in the Far East difficult - in Kazan resulted in a general strike, but not in an actual seizure of the important industrial city. Eastwards, as the first reinforcements arrived in Afghanistan, General Kirponos retained his defensive stance, defeating an attempt uprising in occupied territory and generally holding on to previous gains.

East Asian Front

The Uneasy Winter

For the first time in months, the unrelenting carnage of the East Asian front has slowed down, making it far less brutal than its counterparts in Europe. With snow and harsh weather making operations in certain difficult, and after continued attrition, several commanders have chosen to spent their time planning new offensives or replenishing their losses, providing a remarkable pause in the Manchurian front in particular. A development of particular note reported by Chinese irregular forces has been the large-scale construction of new bridges and railroads across coastal China, which will help enhance the Japanese supply lines and, perhaps, facilitate further and deeper advances into central China. Despite their best efforts, Chinese militias have only been able to slow down the work in certain areas, encountering the new construction sizes too heavily garrisoned. On a less optimistic note for Tokyo, a series of air raids intended to harm Chinese logistics and weaken their forces failed to have much of an impact, a development that allowed the NRA to attempt their own winter counteroffensive.

The NRA winter counteroffensive

Acting before a large mobilization was declared by Tokyo, raising several new divisions despite protests in Tokyo and the Diet, the Chinese forces reinforced their battered northern armies in an operation to relieve Beijing, and pushed for a further offensive on the Nanjing front. Their northern effort achieved surprise and quickly disrupted the Japanese defensive perimeter, causing initial panic as local commanders scrambled to get reinforcements into the field. Despite this success and a greater share of Chinese casualties, the old capital proved to be a step too far. Stalled in their advance, and with both cities devoid of supplies for long-term resistance, Tianjin and Beijing both fell at the end of winter. Southwards, the Nanjing campaign continued with a Chinese push to the east from Jiangsu, with Bai Chongxi seeking the ambitious goal of cutting off the Japanese forces that threatened the ROC's capital. Despite the lack of supplies, the Chinese troops struck hard and viciously, forcing the Japanese forces to make a rapid decision. Tojo reluctantly allowed for a tactical withdrawal, expanding the Chinese perimeter around Nanjing while sparing his men from major losses and containing the encirclement attempt.

[Lumine]

April 1st, 1939

List of Conflicts:

German-Soviet War Soviet Union vs. German Reich (1939 - Present)

German-Entente War Republic of France, British Empire (UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), Kingdom of Belgium vs. German Reich, Kingdom of Hungary (1938 - Present)

Serbo-Bulgarian War: Kingdom of Bulgaria vs. Kingdom of Greater Serbia (1938 - Present)

Soviet-Eurasian War: Soviet Union vs. Eurasian Alliance [Poland, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Greece] (1938 - Present)

Great East Asia War: Republic of China and Warlords vs. Empire of Japan and Manchukuo (1937 - Present)

[Lumine]

The Armies of the World:

German Reich
150 Divisions total
44 Division Army Group B
73 Division Army Group A + C
14 Division Army Group D
9 Division Eastern Front
10 Division Reserve Army
Extra Divisions: 1 White Russian Division
New divisions available: 25

British Empire
31 Divisions total
11 Division BEF
10 Division Territorial Army
6 Division Middle East Command
2 Division Far East Command
2 Division Africa Command
Extra Divisions: 12 Indian Colonial Divisions (can't be shipped away due to strife)
New divisions available: 5

Republic of France
106 Divisions total
97 Division Western Front
16 Division 1st Army Group
28 Division 2nd Army Group
37 Division 3rd Army Group
15 Division 4th Army Group
4 Division Army of North Africa
2 Division Army of Levant
2 Division Army of Indochina
Extra Divisions: 7 African and Asian Colonial Divisions / 18 Belgian Divisions
New divisions available: 5

Soviet Union
165 Divisions total
50 Division Army of Poland
35 Division Army of Romania
15 Division Caucasus Front
25 Division Central Asia Front
25 Division Far East Front
20 Division Baltic Front
Extra Divisions: 6 Mongolian, Xinjiang and Tannu Tuva Divisions / 3 Armenian Divisions
New divisions available: 60

Kingdom of Italy
50 Divisions total
12 Division Army of Libya
5 Division Army of Albania
13 Division Army of Croatia
20 Division Army of Italy
Extra Divisions: 1 Slovenian and 2 Croatian Divisions / 2 White Russian Divisions / 1 Ukrainian Division
New divisions available: 10

United States of America
10 Divisions total
New divisions available: 0

Empire of Japan
53 Divisions total
5 Division Home Army
12 Division Kwantung Army
31 Division Army of China
Extra Divisions: 5 Manchukuo Divisions
New divisions available: 15

Republic of China
251 Divisions total
66 Division National Revolutionary Army
85 Division Warlord Armies
10 Division Ma Clique Army
40 Division Northern Coalition Army
40 Division Southern Coalition Army
New divisions available: 18

Eurasian Alliance
116 Divisions total
31 Division Army of Romania
26 Division Army of Turkey
20 Division Army of Iran
15 Division Army of Iraq
10 Division Army of Afghanistan
Extra Divisions: 3 International Legion Divisions / 3 Division Hellenic Expeditionary Corps
New divisions available: 6 ROM / 4 TUR / 3 IRN / 1 IRQ / 1 AFG

Polish Republic
60 Divisions total
50 Division Eastern Front
10 Division Western Front
Extra Divisions: 1 International Legion Division
New divisions available: 2

Commonwealth Armies
10 Divisions total
4 Division Army of Canada
3 Division Army of South Africa
2 Division Army of Australia
1 Division Army of New Zealand
New divisions available: 1 AUS / 1 NZ

Kingdom of Bulgaria
21 Divisions Total
16 Division Army of Macedonia
5 Division Home Army
New divisions available: 0

Kingdom of Hungary
29 Divisions Total
14 Division Western Army
15 Division Army of Hungary
Extra Divisions: 3 Slovak divisions
New divisions available: 3

Kingdom of Greater Serbia
18 Divisions Total
8 Division Army of Macedonia
14 Division Army of Belgrade
New divisions available: 2

The Navies of the World:

British Empire: Carrier-based / Very Large
United States of America: Carrier-based / Very Large
Japanese Empire: Carrier-based / Very Large
Republic of France: Battleship-based / Large
Kingdom of Italy: Battleship-based / Large
German Reich: Battleship-based / Medium
Dominion of Canada: Carrier-based / Small
Soviet Union: Battleship-based / Medium
Republic of Turkey: Battleship-based / Small
Commonwealth of Australia: Cruiser-based / Medium
Republic of China: Destroyer-based / Small
Union of South Africa: Small vessel-based / Very Small
Kingdom of Bulgaria: Small vessel-based / Very Small
Polish Republic: Non-existent
Kingdom of Romania: Non-existent
Kingdom of Hungary: Non-existent

The Air Forces of the World:

German Reich: First-Rate / Very Large
British Empire: First-Rate / Large
Japanese Empire: First Rate / Large
Republic of France: High Quality / Large
United States of America: High Quality / Medium
Kingdom of Italy: High Quality / Large
Soviet Union: Low Quality / Large
Polish Republic: High Quality / Small
Dominion of Canada: Medium Quality / Medium
Commonwealth of Australia: Medium Quality / Small
Kingdom of Bulgaria: Medium Quality / Small
Republic of Turkey: Medium Quality / Very Small
Kingdom of Romania: Medium Quality / Very Small
Republic of China: Low Quality / Small
Kingdom of Hungary: Low Quality / Small
Union of South Africa: Low Quality / Small

[Lumine]

Economic Performance:
Republic of Finland: High

Popularity:
President Svinhufvud: Medium

Mobilization Level:
Conscription: Republic of Finland

Republic of Finland

Mr. President,

Two years into your second term, and having already governed the nation for eight years, Finland stands at a complex moment. Domestically, the economy has soared as recovery has consolidated, giving the nation an enviable prosperity. However, there is significant political strife. Your steadfast refusal to allow the center-left SDP to enter government has resulted in unstable center-right or centrist minority governments, the last of which has been presided by moderate Aimo Cajander, backed by the Agrarian League (agrarian, centrist), the Swedish People's Party (Swedish minority, centrist) and Cajander's National Progressive Party (liberal, centrist to center-right). In the opposition sit the SDP (center-left, progressive), your own National Coalition Party (conservative, center-right) and the Patriotic People's Movement (fascist, far-right). The Communist Party of Finland remains banned. With elections scheduled for this year, you must decide how to sort out the political instability, and deal with the ongoing expansion of the war in Europe.

The Armies of the World:

Republic of Finland
8 Divisions Total
8 Division Army of Finland
New divisions available: 0

The Navies of the World:

Republic of Finland: Small vessel-based / Small

The Air Forces of the World:

Republic of Finland: Medium Quality / Very Small

[Lumine]

The World War

April 1939 to June 1939 (Part One)

"We are told the sight is beyond comprehension. That, horrific as it is to see thousands of soldiers burnt and mangled by the effect of the gasses, it is a thousand times worse to see those wounds in the faces of women and children. (Pauses, on the verge of tears) Children. Some of them no older than... my child, who was taken from us so young. Those are sights we never want to see in America. With the gassing, purposeful or accidental, of great and historic European cities like Konigsberg, Krakow, Belgrade and Craiova, I believe the final taboos of aerial bombardment and chemical weapons have been broken. We have well and truly crossed the threshold. And from this point onwards, it may well be that no city will be safe."

(Senator Charles Lindbergh (R-NJ), speech to the United States Senate)

Western Front

Battles of Cambrai (2nd), Lille and Compiegne

Stopped at Arras after large-scale use of phosgene and mustard gas by the Entente armies, Günther von Kluge's Army Group B underwent significant alterations, being forced to send two of its corps eastwards and preparing for an offensive as soon as possible. Contrary to their expectations, the French 1st Army Group advanced first, determined to recover Cambrai and expand their breathing space. Having obtained close to parity in numbers, Corap's offensive experienced early signs of encouragement, pushing Kluge back to Cambrai. It was here that the offensive suddenly stalled, clashing into makeshift trenches fortifications - many of them previously built by the French - as attacks on both sides were preceded by usage of available chemicals. Noticing that the mysterious German gas was seemingly out of stock, Corap pushed the attack to its absolute limit, hoping for the long-desired breakthrough.

The subsequent 2nd Battle of Cambrai, although fought on the sunny skies of spring, reminded the elderly of the worse moments of Verdun, the Somme, and even Passchendaele. Scores of men were gunned down by increasingly potent weaponry, a mixture of chemicals, artillery, automatic gunfire and aerial bombardment that rapidly eroded divisions and, at times, resulted in the virtual destruction of entire units. As soon as Corap made gains Kluge would erase them, and viceversa. Both armies engaged in destructive attrition for weeks, unable to disloge from the other under threat of pursuit. In the end, Corap was forced to relent. The Belgian Army was exhausted, and King Leopold forbade further attacks. In the subsequent pursuit, spearheaded by German panzers that not been able to be used in trench warfare, Kluge inflicted disproportionate casualties, threatening a collapse of the front. He was only stopped at Lille after violent chemical barrages and a final charge by the Belgians.

Southwards, Lord Gort's British Expeditionary Force ditched the previous approach that relied on the Somme, moving towards the Oise instead. Through innovative tactics, Gort was able to bypass the usual stalling of an offensive through chemical bombardment, starting a race to the river as Kluge's flanks threatened to collapse. The crossing of the river, however, was to turn into a debacle. In scenes reminiscent of Douglas Haig's reputation as a butcher, Gort pushed the BEF to the brink to cross, experiencing massive casualties in the process and, at some points, leaving the Oise red with blood. The sacrifice was not to be in vain, for the crossing was made and the BEF advanced as far as Compiegne, threatening the entire supply line to Paris whilst inflicting significant casualties. Both the cost, far superior than the previous battles around the Somme, left Parliament howling. Thousands upon thousands of British servicemen lay dead.

For Germans, Belgians, British and French alike, casualties in the north have been so heavy that morale is said to be collapsing, with many wondering for how long they can even be sustained.

Disaster at Chartes

After a season of fortifying and bloody skirmishes, Witzleben's Army Group A and Condé's 2nd Army Group were ready for the spring slaughter, which was to prove most spectacular. The first move again belonged to the French, who took advantage of large-scale German redeployment to attempt a feint so as to portray their main effort as directed against Paris. In this they ran right in the middle of German preparations for a even larger offensive, which threatened to engulf Condé's entire vanguard. The French general reacted swiftly, drawing his men back while avoiding encirclement. His defensive arrangements, however, were disrupted, all while Witzleben attacked with one of the highest German concentrations of force thus far and, it seems, the entire available stock of mysterious poison gas for the front.

Reports that reached Blanchard's HQ in Orleans proved contradictory. For some, Condé fought skillfully despite being heavily outnumbered. For others, he overreacted, creating a further vulnerability. Whichever the case, Condé died early at the Battle of Chartres, the victim - horribly and painfully so of a chemical shell. Entire divisions were torn to shreds, and the subsequent fall back of the Army Group back to the next line of defense at the Loire a debacle. Although Witzleben had paid a major price - including the loss of priceless scores of Panzers to superior French firepower -, his casualties, proportional to the size of his Army Group, could be stomached. The 2nd French Army Group was almost destroyed, having to cross the Loire to avoid total annihilation. It only did so with the timely arrival of a large array of Commonwealth forces (South African, ANZAC and Canadian), which, while underequipped, covered the withdrawal and avoided total disaster. Witzleben then entered Orléans as a conqueror at the end of the season, with the French General Staff forced to flee to Bordeaux.

The French strike northwards

If the main German effort was directed westwards, the French chose their target to look northwards. Believing that the key to victory was to be found in the destruction of the enormous German salient that threatened to engulf France, Marshal Blanchard shifted the bulk of his resources to the 3rd Army Group, leaving Orleans - unaware of the coming disaster - to personally supervise a major offensive alongside Army Group Commander Bouret. Nothing was to be spared. And facing over forty French divisions would be Army Group C, once again independent and now under Wilhelm von Leeb's command. Leeb, for his part, had orders to keep Bouret busy. Finding the bulk of the French offensive directed at his smaller Army Group was to prove a disastrous surprise. Making use of overwhelming concentration of firepower, chemicals, airpower and, crucially, armor - with Generals de Gaulle and de Lattre covering themselves in glory - Leeb was soundly defeated at Reims.

Giving him no respite, Blanchard had Bouret keep up the pursuit, capturing or destroying a number of divisions as they pushed hard towards Sedan. Leeb, threatened with potential encirclement, could either swing west or east. Under orders, he swung west to Paris, seeking fortified refuge. This, in turn, left the German flanks open. Aided by resistance units, which have started to show some promise, Bouret had to stop after outrunning his logistics, seizing Sedan and Hirson. A final effort was made to push beyond the Ardennes and cut the German supply line for good, but it was not to be. The French too had sustained losses - if far less than the Germans - and the tanks could be pushed no longer. In a note of irony, both Blanchard and von Blomberg (Reichswehr Supreme Commander) were said to have gone pale after celebrating the respective triumphs of Sedan and Orleans, realizing they were both in danger of being canceled by the enemy's other accomplishment.

Back to the Maginot Line

In Berlin, much was made of the prospect of a brilliant reconquest of the Saarland, one that would allow the encirclement of several divisions and, perhaps, deliver a major blow to a French Republic already struggling with manpower issues. It was therefore not surprising that, just as the Hungarian Expeditionary Corps left for the east, Gerd von Rundstedt was provided even larger - and more effective - reinforcements. His new Army Group D went into the offensive afterwards, finding immediate resistance by the 4th French Army Group, which had had time to fortify the region and dig in while trying to cycle out the most damaged divisions. A first, second and a third battle ensued, resulting in heavy German casualties which were nonetheless coupled with a growing inability by the French to hold the line. Gachery, in the end, withdrew, failing to sabotage the coal mines as hoped for, but managing to save his army and prevent the much desired encirclement. As the French resumed their posts on the Maginot Line, von Rundstedt toured the now liberated Saarland, received as a liberator by scores of German civilians.

Eastern Front

Battle of the Baltic Sea

With the destruction of the Polish and Lithuanian navies, the Baltic Sea Fleet had taken an important steps towards supremacy in the region. The biggest, and most dangerous target on its way was the Kriesgmarine, even after being crippled by British aerial raids early in the war. And with the start of hostilities between the Reich and the USSR, Moscow decided one of the ways in which it would seek revenge for Buzau was to strike first and to strike hard at seas. Departing from St. Petersburg, Soviet Admiral Tributs gathered the entirety of the Baltic Fleet, sailing towards East Prussia. Berlin, in turn, had decided on an almost identical course of action. Admiral Marschall, one of the rising - and daring - stars of the fleet, took with him the bulk of the Kriesgmarine, leaving behind the vessels still in repairs. Having relative superiority in numbers and, crucially, in more modern battleships, Marschall led the charge as soon as the Soviets were found.

Aided by aerial support - forcing the German naval bombers to scramble in return - Marschall's flagship Gneisenau was struck by a lucky hit that reached its armory, making the ship explode. It went downhill from there for the Germans, as the Soviet vessels successfully coordinated their fire with aerial support and made use of greater battle experience. Only the timely intervention of Admiral Lutjens from Gneisenau's twin Scharnhorst saved the Kriesgmarine from destruction, executing a withdrawal after significant losses. Though prevented from reaching their ambitious goal to destroy several major ports, Tributs was able to shell Konigsberg. It was not to be the last attack the city would experience. In the aftermath of the disaster, which has left the Kriesgmarine at parity - or worse - with the Soviets, Admiral Raeder has taken responsibility, and submitted his resignation to the Chancellor.

The Fall of Leningrad

Having normalized diplomatic relations up to a point during the decade, the Republic of Finland was nonetheless increasingly alarmed by the expansionist turn of the Soviet Union under Marshal Tukhachevsky. As Estonia signed a treaty and Lithuania was invaded twice, Helsinki saw reason for fear. And whereas this normally would have resulted in a defensive build-up to prepare for the worst, President Svinhufvud thought otherwise. As he would later tell a stunned Parliament and nation, the USSR was an existential threat to Finland. Citing a long list of "crimes against humanity", Svinhufvud took it upon himself to declare war on the Soviet Union, seemingly joining, in a sudden move, the efforts of the Eurasian Alliance. Parliament was then further shocked by the declaration of martial law and a national unity parliament. Upon the refusal of most parties to do so, citing the war as a dangerous gamble, Svinhufvud proceeded to form a new government under the National Coalition Party and pro-war MPs, particularly those supporting expansionist aims.

As overtures to other Scandinavian nations failed to produce much impact - being stunned that Helsinki would suddenly strike the Red Giant -, the Finnish Army mobilized into defensive positions, with Field Marshal Mannerheim personally leading the 1st Finnish Army into the Karelian Isthmus. Its target: the key city of Leningrad, formerly St. Petersburg, and not so long ago the capital of old Tsarist Russia. Despite the short distances and skeleton Soviet defenders, the large amount of fortifications and difficult terrain made a lightning advance impossible. Mannerheim, nonetheless, prevailed. Pushing his men southwards, his initial push was defeated by local garrison troops led by division commander Georgy Zhukov, forcing Mannerheim to rethink his approach. His second attempt broke through, and with a lack of immediately available reinforcements, Zhukov was forced to concede the city, but not after removing as much weaponry, supplies and valuables - including priceless artifacts - as he could. Citizen militias have already been forced outside the city, in the hopes of keeping the Finns contained.

For Marshal Mannerheim, the entry into Leningrad - to hundreds of thousands of stunned, quietly angry citizens - was a crowning achievement of his career. In one stroke, one of the key industrial cities of the USSR -producing as much as 10% of its goods - was captured. It was not, however, all well with the Finnish war effort. The fortress of Kronstadt had not fallen, making it impossible for vessels to sail into the city. More important still, the Finns are now responsible for three million Soviet citizens, forcing them to garrison the large city and find ways to feed a number of civilians which is almost as large as the entire population of Finland.

The Bombing of Konigsberg

Amidst large-scale German preparations for a potential Soviet offensive in the east, which led to the creation of a large Army Group E under the newly promoted Erich von Manstein, Berlin had air raid sirens installed across all major cities, with Konigsberg – largest one in East Prussia – being among the first to receive them. As people waited for a Soviet offensive that never materialized, the sound of the sirens led civilians to scramble, waiting for the city to be bombarded. To their surprise, the Soviet bombs – for the raid was extremely successful, with minimum Soviet casualties – had far less explosive potency than most would have expected, and came with strange green and yellow hues and smoke. Their relief lasted seconds, for soon the air turned unbreathable. A few tons of mustard gas had been dropped all across the city, resulting in thousands of civilians having their skin burned as they slowly choked into a horrifying death.

Although several others cities would be gassed by accident or as collateral damage, Konigsberg has entered history as one of the first to be subject to aerial bombardment, and as the first civilian target to be purposely bombed with chemical weapons. East Prussia has been ground to a halt, with Manstein having to deploy thousands of men to assist survivors and maintain order. As much as 30,000 civilians would die in the next few weeks, with even larger numbers of wounded, leaving only a minority of inhabitants unscathed. The operation, intended to avenge Buzau, has now opened up a terrifying prospect in warfare: the large-scale bombing of cities with chemical weaponry. And although some officers are already floating the possibility in various air forces, the majority of experts recoils in fear at the thought. With several nations barely being able to provide gas masks to troops – often of poor quality -, they must now also decide whether to try and provide it to defenseless civilians.

Assassination Season in the East

In the aftermath of attempts on the life of Marshal Tukhachevsky, the Eastern Front (s) would see a large array of attempted assassinations on the most prominent politicians in the region, resulting in unprecedented fear and paranoia. Near Krakow, before the successful Soviet withdrawal, a kill squad dressed in Soviet uniforms tried to cross the Soviet lines, presumably to kill the Marshal. While unsuccessful, they would escape into the woods. In Warsaw, while delivering a speech supporting the war effort, President Koc was shot in the arm by a sniper. His survival has been attributed to adopting preventive measures in time, but his attacker has not been found. Outside the Chancellery in Berlin, Chancellor Hugenberg was shot seven times by a man captured and identified as an NKVD operative. Despite initial panic, the victim was revealed to have been a body double, one of several measures adopted by a – as it turns out, properly - paranoid security detail.

In Stockholm, the head of the Lithuanian government in exile was murdered, further disrupting the beleaguered group of exiles. Following the assassination, the government in exile has reportedly maintained its protests against Polish occupation, but softened its tone against the Soviet Union. In the process of the battles in southern Poland, Marshal Tukhachevsky was shot at again – but remained uninjured - by what appeared to be Ukrainian nationalists, but who later confessed after torture of being part of an elaborate Kempeitai plot from Tokyo. Having thus survived multiple assassination attempts and opened up the deadly encirclement, the Marshal had to undergo surgery for his poisoning and gunshot wounds. Following unexpected complications, he went into cardiac arrest and perished on the operation table. Having rose to the highest office in Soviet Russia and become Europe’s most famous man, his career was now cut short at age 46.

The arrest and interrogation of his doctors did not reveal purposeful sabotage of the operation, with Tukhachevsky’s death being attributed to his IV being poisoned with Thalium. The news have caused shock and grief in Moscow, with the Communist Party’s elite widely reported to have vowed to avenge the Marshal and the foreign powers that caused his death.

Dash to the Vistula

Fresh from his conquest of much of Lithuania, General Rokossovsky occupied much of what left in Polish hands, more as a result of Polish withdrawal to conserve resources than due to battlefront triumph. Declining to enter Memel or German territory – which allowed Manstein to heavily fortify East Prussia, Rokossovsky turned south. This time, propaganda appeals to Lithuania finally showed some success as anti-Polish resentment grew, allowing him to form a number of volunteer units to support his rear. For several weeks, Rokossovsky was contained by enormous Polish fortifications in the Polish-Lithuanian border, painstakingly constructed over the past few years. Bloody assault after bloody assault, Rokossovsky was eventually able to prevail due to the Polish concentration of forces in the south, breaking one of the defense rings at the end of the season and moving towards the Vistula. Although his supply line is vulnerable, Rokossovsky is now in a position to threaten Warsaw.

[Lumine]

The World War

April to June 1939 (Part Two)

Breakout in Southern Poland

Contrary to initial expectations, the Red Army did not choose a direct approach for breaking out of the massive pocket in southern Poland, choosing instead a large Romanian build-up. Thus, the Soviet launched a counteroffensive from both directions, all while the Polish Army did its best to stand their ground and, hopefully, annihilate the pocket. Devoid of tank superiority, General Mazcek did his best to continue the war of movement, but was eventually forced into a defensive stance as casualties piled up in both armies. Soon the battle for the so-called “Lwow corridor” turned into Western-style carnage, amplified by ceaseless use of chemical weapons to disrupt any offensives. Eventually, and by the slimmest of margins, Tukhachevsky prevailed, capturing a key Polish fortress and opening up a small corridor from which supplies dashed forward. The worst had seemingly happened.

The Soviet position, however, soon became untenable. Right as an attempted uprising in Zaolzie by local Communists failed, 13 Hungarian and Slovakian divisions – the latter acting to avenge Andrej Hlinka – stormed the Carpathians in what was called Operation Piros. Violent battles ensued as the Soviets held their ground, until the Hungarian forces finally broke through at the Battle of the Dukla Pass. Northwards, multiple Luftwaffe squadrons appeared in the air, carrying the same implements used at Buzau. They struck for an entire week at Soviet divisions stationed near Krakow, inflicting high casualties – if not as large as Buzau – at the cost of thousands of Polish civilian casualties in Krakow once the winds shifted west. Following Tukhachevsky’s murder, Chief of Staff Gamarnik ordered a general withdrawal.

For several days the remnants of the Soviet armies moved across the corridor, harassed at every turn by the Poles and suffering enormous casualties, leading at times to the surrender of entire units. The areas left behind – ruined by the use of chemicals - have been rapidly overrun by the Hungarians and turned over to Warsaw’s control once again. Gamarnik has restored the Soviet positions, preventing a Polish offensive into Romania and Ukraine, but the large army that struck at Poland six months ago is only a shadow of its former self.

The Fall of Romania

By all rights, the triumph of Bucharest and Buzau could have meant the end of the Romanian campaign, an unexpected victory for a nation previously expected to crumble after a few weeks. And as the Romanian and Eurasian armies moved onwards – despite their weakened state – they had reason to hope for final victory. It was not to be. In what observers initially described as a foolhardy obsession, the Red Napoleon directed most of his reserves at Romania, ordering a new offensive led by almost one and half million men. Albeit not as well trained and battle-hardened as their counterparts, they had total superiority in numbers, and months of occupation of Bessarabia and Moldova to support their logistics. Romanian General Nicolae Ciuperca overreached in its optimism, and the subsequent battles of Focsani were a complete debacle. The Eurasian divisions were on the run again, back to Bucharest.

Expecting to break out the mustard gas to slow down the Soviets and save the nation again, the Romanians had not counted on the Soviet Air Force. Finally making some progress in improving its performance, they launched a bombing campaign to target the Romanian oilfields, bypassing the already damaged Ploiesti to focus on the province of Oltenia. As luck would have it, the Romanian chemical stocks had been transferred and stored into the province. Two of the largest ones were hit around the city of Oltenia, covering it in a cloud of toxic smoke that killed thousands and crippled the local capabilities for chemical warfare. Forced to rely on more limited stocks coming from abroad, the Eurasian army experienced a second defeat in Ramnicu Sarat, leaving Bucharest open at last. Within the city, the patience of several junior officers finally ran out.

Romania’s survival had not come cheap. The economy was ruined and utterly dependent on foreign support. Millions lived in increasing poverty. The army had suffered horrific losses, even if the Soviets had suffered far, far more. And the King, while a symbol of resistance for many, remained apparently unwilling to accept the grim reality. Before Carol II, following contingency plans, could depart alongside the Royal Family to exile, the officers launched a coup and arrested his majesty, attempting to seek an armistice with Soviet commander Marshal Yegorov. Their overtures were rejected, dooming them. The Royal Family was let go, resulting in their immediate departure for Transylvania and then to an unknown foreign capital. Carol was delivered to Yegorov in a last ditch attempt by the plotters to court favor. Following instructions, Yegorov had Carol II summarily executed.

While resistance continues across much of unoccupied Romania, including Transylvania; from where General Dumitrescu and the remnants of the Romanian Army intend to fight to the end; and the Romanian-Bulgarian frontier, to where most of the Greek and Turkish forces have withdrawn, a Romanian Soviet Republic has been announced from the hollowed out, desolate streets of Bucharest. Its new leader, PCR General Secretary Lucretiu Patrascanu, has declared its intent to follow Moscow’s lead.

Balkan Front

Serbia under siege

The aftermath of the Serbian debacle at Debar saw the remnants of the Serbian troops experience little to no rest. The Bulgarian Army, having finally tasted victory, kept up the pursuit, forcing the Serbians to try and maintain a defensive front by relying on previously built-up fortifications. As the Bulgarian troops would soon start to notice, it seemed that the deeper they got inside Serbia, the more fortifications they found. They were, however, able to close the final Serbian salient that offered a threat to Sofia. Up north, the Italian build-up in Croatia continued, with General Roatta leading new campaigns to try and follow-up on recent struggles against the Croatian resistance (which has been recently described as "Partisans"). An attempt to chase the HSS into the Dinaric Alps was successfully resisted, resulting in high Italian casualties before Roatta ended the attempt. Eastwards, the Communists suffered another harsh defeat as the Italians replaced the Croatian Home Guard on the battlefield, destroying most of their permanent bases and forcing the Communist militias to move constantly to avoid encirclement. Tito's whereabouts, however, remain unknown.

Said Italian build-up, however, was far from directed at the Croatian partisans. The League of Rome had made a strategic decision that served as a follow up to the Third Balkan War: the invasion and destruction of the Kingdom of Greater Serbia. Following several incidents of violence and attempted uprisings in ethnically Hungarian areas, the Hungarian Army crossed the Danube, starting a general offensive - appropriately called "Ferdinand", in reference to Archduke Franz Ferdinand - that posed a direct threat to Belgrade. To the west, Italian troops crossed the border into Bosnia, being received either as liberators or without much resistance by ethnic Bosniaks. While the Regia Marina shelled Montenegro and closed up the Adriatic, the bulk of the Regia Aeronautica overran the small Serbian Air Force and began a campaign of unprecedented mass bombing across the country. Belgrade was targeted several times, resulting in the death of several leading government members. Upon Regent Pesic being declared dead, General Mihailovic is said to have taken command of the regency.

Crucially, the Italian Air Force targeted - without knowing - a series of factories that turned up to be producing stocks of mustard gas, the subsequent explosion filling the city with deadly poison gas and causing mass casualties. Over the next few weeks, all three armies charged ahead against the outnumbered Serbian army, which was forced to start a total mobilization of its population - with reports of children militias manning anti-aircraft weapons and performing other duties - to prepare for the onslaught. By and large, all three succeeded, liberating or capturing large territories. Whereas Italy would experience the lesser casualties, both the Bulgarians and Hungarians paid a significant price, with the Hungarian offensive in particular being stopped short of Belgrade. With mustard gas stocks seemingly low due to the bombing of Belgrade, the League's soldiers have been stunned to discover an unknown compound being used on the ground. While less lethal than mustard or phosgene, its extreme effects have made advances difficult - and seemingly have a downright poisonous effect on the ground -, leading the League's soldiers to respond in kind by using their own stocks of mustard gas.

Whilst the League has denounced Belgrade for its use of chemicals, General Mihailovic has appealed to the rest of the world for aid, denouncing that Serbia is being subject to a war of annihilation. The General has cited unconfirmed reports of forced and violent population transfers in Bosnia and in Italian/Ustashe occupied areas, pledging that Serbia "won't be exterminated without a fight".

Eurasian Front

The Iron Fist of the NKVD

For months the Turkish Emniyet had pulled off remarkable feats of disruption within the Soviet state, previously unthinkable under Stalin's merciless dictatorship. This, in turn, had forced the Soviets to start relying even more on the NKVD, whose director, Genrikh Yagoda, kept increasing his power in turn. And for the first time in several months, the Emniyet were dealt a more decisive blow, losing several agents as their resources became distinctly overstretched. Among other setbacks, the Kazan and Ufa uprisings were contained and repressed by the NKVD using the harshest methods possible, ending these revolts at the cost of significant industrial disruption. A similar attempt to create trouble in Omsk ended swiftly, with potential ringleaders arrested and executed without trial.

Perhaps more decisively, an attempt to provide an ideological base for would-be rebels in Central Asia failed, much like previous Soviet attempts to introduce a form of Islamic socialism either failed to appeal or couldn't breach security arrangements. It has not, however, been an entirely unproductive season for the Emniyet, which has earned the respect of European intelligence services. The Soviet lifeline to the Kurds is said to have been cut, at the same time in which a Turkish corps, after defeating the Kurdish militias in battle, has forced them to seek refuge in the mountains. Attempts to provide arms to rebels in Georgia and Azerbaijan showed remarkable success, expanding anti-Soviet sentiment. Most importantly, the Emniyet was able to show a would-be assassin just as he tried to shoot President Atatürk at the middle of a speech, leaving the President unharmed. The assailant, however, was shot before he could be interrogated.

Kirponos in Kabul

Having waited months for reinforcements, General Mikhail Kirponos finally received the armies he had long since been waiting for. Although this was to have later effects for the Far-East, he immediately set into the task, leading the Red Army to cross the Hindu Kush whilst the Eurasian armies - Afghan, Iranian, Iraqi and Turkish - consolidated. Facing parity in numbers, the Afghan King expected payback from earlier defeats, but it was not to be. A combination of superior training, equipment, and Kirponos' decisive leadership lead to a major Soviet victory at the Battle of Charikar, in which the Eurasian forces took heavy casualties. Kirponos then captured Kabul, with the King managing to escape with the Royal Family and the bulk of the Eurasian Army. As more reinforcements arrived, Kirponos was forced to stop his offensive, right as a new Afghan Soviet Republic was proclaimed in the capital.

A knife to Baku's throat

With the Soviet Army generally ignoring the Caucasus - in what was to have serious consequences for Ankara -, the Eurasian forces took the initiative, building up strength around Yerevan to launch an offensive seemingly aimed at the Armenian capital. Making significant progress and suffering less casualties than the Soviet-Armenian forces, their approach to Yerevan was interrupted right as the Soviet forces concentrated in the area. In a stunning example of misdirection, the 9-division Eurasian army swung rightwards, overrunning the Soviet left-wing and dashing into Azerbaijan. The Eurasian advance, supported by Iran and Iraq, was able to overrun most of the country, only failing to capture Baku at the last possible moment. Although a similar offensive in Western Georgia proved to be a failure and the oilfields were sabotaged by departing Soviet officials, the direct threat to Baku poses the risk of a  potentially crippling blow to the Soviet Union, which could be cut off from almost 80% of its sources of oil.

The Soviet Invasion of Turkey

Rather than rely on the Caucasus as its main front to deliver a blow to the Eurasian Alliance in the Middle East, Moscow decided that crushing Ankara and President Atatürk was the most direct way to win a war which, to the surprise of the world, had led to embarrassment for the Soviet Union. Over half a million Soviet troops started a direct march towards Turkey, with one wing of the army swinging from Georgia as the Black Sea Fleet - taking advantage of Eurasian naval resources being confined to the Bosphorus - provided logistical cover for large-scale amphibious landings and later, naval transport. One by one Trabzon, Samsun, Ordu and Sinope fell, delivering the bulk of Turkey's Black Sea cost into Soviet control. Outnumbered in Anatolia as a result of redeploying resources elsewhere, the Turkish Army made a defiant stand in the Pontic Alps to try and stop and advance on Ankara. At the Battle of Izkelib, the Turkish Army suffered brutal casualties, but it forced the Soviets to pay an even larger price. Hampered by terrible logistics and the Turkish stand, the Soviets were unable to push into Ankara, sparing the Turkish capital for now.

East Asian Front

An Unexpected Peace

Following a mostly quiet winter, featuring only limited fighting around Nanjing and Beijing, most observers expected the spring slaughter to commence between China and Japan. So did the Japanese generals, who were subsequently stunned into silence after a secretive meeting of the IJA's general staff and the Emperor in which they were told that, upon the discovery of a supposed Soviet plot to attack the Empire, the time was ripe for peace with China and a strike against Moscow. One by one most Generals, though confused and/our outraged, seemingly yielded to the Emperor's will, with even firebrands like Araki and Tojo forced to defer to His Majesty. Field Marshal Sugiyama, ominously, stayed quiet. Over the next few days, a peace treaty was announced - to the shock of the entire region - between Tokyo and Nanjing, seemingly ending a war which had caused hundreds of thousands of casualties. The Treaty of Tokyo, for all purposes, threatened to provide a seismic strategic shift.

In Tokyo itself, the civilian government was divided. Minseito and most of Seiyukai praised it as deft diplomacy, forcing Nanjing to recognize Manchukuo again and, crucially, delivering Japanese access to the resource-rich Chinese markets. For the Generals, it was marginally better - some said worse - than the Sino-Japanese Treaty in 1933, making them question what had been gained by their troops' sacrifice. During the next few weeks, as the Imperial Japanese Army was supposed to withdraw from China to launch the Emperor's new operation, observers began to notice the Japanese forces kept some positions around the coastline, not complying with the entire withdrawal even as the historic date for an attack on the Soviet Union approached.

In Nanjing, Chiang received unexpected backing from Wang Jingwei's supporters, relieved that the destructive war was at an end. The Ma Clique also offered its congratulations, believing the Soviet threat to them to be vital. But for the rest of China, the announcement was as stunning as it was furiously received. One by one the major warlords accused Chiang of capitulating to Tokyo, and Field Marshal Zhang furiously broke all ties to the Generalissimo. Soon afterwards, the Northern and Southern Coalitions formally abandoned the informal united front, reigniting the Chinese Civil War as the warlords vowed to remove "the traitor" from office.

The Far-East Offensives

At the designated date, several Japanese and Chinese divisions began their march towards Soviet and Comintern targets, mostly devoid of troops due to their redeployment elsewhere. In Xinjiang, Ma and NRA forces stormed into Xinjiang, defeating the Xinjiang People's Republic's forces, capturing Urumqi, and almost overrunning the entire Soviet satellite. In Manchuria proper, a planned offensive into Mongolia threatened to collapse after Zhang denied any logistical support, forcing the Chinese cavalry to take a longer route across the desert. Enjoying superiority in numbers, the NRA was able to defeat the Mongol cavalry on the first encounters, capturing significant territory but stopping far short of Ulaanbaatar. In Ulaanbaatar proper, the Chinese Air Force concentrated for a major air raid, which, while causing outright panic, failed to cause much harm. An enraged Prime Minister Genden - who was almost killed - promised to stand behind Moscow, summarily executing a number of alleged Turkish and Japanese agents.

Far to the east, the recently promoted General Yamash**ta led several Japanese divisions in a major offensive from Manchukuo into the Soviet Union, crushing the border forces after sustaining important casualties and then pushing on. Before events in Tokyo forced Yamash**ta to stop, Japanese forces had captured Chita and Vladivostok - forcing the Soviet Pacific Fleet to withdraw -, stopping short of their final goals. At sea, the Imperial Japanese Navy landed an entire corps in Sakhalin, quickly destroying the local garrison and seizing the Soviet half of the island.

Coup at the Imperial Residence

Over the past six years, Emperor Hirohito had been taken an increasingly active role in the government of the nation. Despite being only on his thirties, he had broken taboo after taboo, showcasing his voice and presence as, step by step, he fought to rebuild control over a mostly unruly military. In this he had achieved almost unimaginable progress, surviving the assassination of two premiers - Okada and Makoto -, the revolt of the Kwantung Army, the purge of the Kodoha faction, a deadlocked election, and many other perils. Perhaps the final task was posed by the sudden Chinese withdrawal, with many Generals found difficult, if not impossible, to understand and accept. At long last, it seemed, the Emperor had pushed his Generals too far. On May 23rd, tanks were seen on the streets of Tokyo, with dozens if not hundreds of Kempeitai officers being arrested and dragged into trucks. Prince Higashikuni was taken into custody outside the Imperial Diet, which was temporarily closed down.

Around the Imperial Palace, there was report of gunfire and bitter resistance, which died down during the afternoon. That night, a radio broadcast announced that the Emperor had suddenly developed a mysterious illness, and would be forced to rest for the following months. Due to his inability to govern, and the youth of the Crown Prince - only five years ago - a regency was needed. Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu, a known hardline nationalist and second in line to the throne, was confirmed as Regent. With the Emperor's apparent illness being dismissed as a cover story by the foreign press, it is believed that a military coup has taken place, with Generals Sugiyama, Terauchi and Umezu cited as possible ringleaders.

[Lumine]

July 1st, 1939

List of Conflicts:

German-Soviet War Soviet Union vs. German Reich (1939 - Present)

German-Entente War Republic of France, British Empire (UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand), Kingdom of Belgium vs. German Reich, Kingdom of Hungary (1938 - Present)

Fourth Balkan War: Pact of Rome (Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary) vs. Kingdom of Greater Serbia (1938 - Present)

Soviet-Eurasian War: Soviet Union vs. Eurasian Alliance [Poland, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Finland Greece] (1938 - Present)

Soviet-East Asian War: Soviet Union vs. Republic of China and Empire of Japan

Chinese Civil War: Republic of China vs. Northern and Southern Coalitions (1939 - Present)

[Lumine]

MID YEAR NEWS - with Radio Crusader

"In a significant political victory for Benito Mussolini, Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster has been elected Pope by the College of Cardinals, adopting the name Benedict XVI. On his first public appearance, the new Pope has appealed to Berlin and Paris to cease hostilities, while condemning the Soviet invasion of Poland..."

"There is talk of an increasing rift within America First and the isolationist movement in the US, with Senator Lindbergh's call for a major defense build-up being echoed by some and bitterly resisted by others. Lindbergh, among other things, called for mass expansion of the Air Corps..."

"A new challenger appears in the oil market as American engineers discover massive deposits of oil in Saudi Arabia. King Ibn Saud, currently London's most reliable partner in the Middle East, has promised that the Kingdom will begin exports as early as 1940..."

"Several days of open mourning in Moscow as desolate crowds lament the death of Marshal Tukhachevsky, eulogized by Trotsky as "the first martyr of the new permanent revolution". In an emergency session, the Congress of Soviets chose New Opposition co-leader Lev Kamenev as the new Chairman of the State Defence Committee (GKO)..."

"According to government sources in Tokyo, Emperor Hirohito is said to be ill with a mysterious disease, necessitating a regency led by Prince Yasuhito. General Sugiyama has replaced Prince Higashikuni as Prime Minister, in what appears to be a fully-fledged coup d'etat..."

"Chaos in Madrid after botched elections provide unexpected results. Amidst protests and violence, the Spanish military is said to be considering steps to "restore order and stability" to the beleaguered Republic. President Alcalá-Zamora last seen boarding train to Bordeaux..."

"Large earthquake devastates southern Chile, leaving an estimated 30,000 dead. President Gustavo Ross has openly asked for international help as he continues to battle the rising local Communist and Fascist movements..."

"The Dominion of Canada and the Union of South Africa join the German-Entente War on the side of the Commonwealth, with the former declaring war through Parliament and the latter doing so de facto. Only the Dominion of India is left to join London's effort, as protests against British rule continue to escalate..."

"Following a drastic cabinet reshuffle, German conservatives rally behind Chancellor Hugenberg as Catholics return to the fold. Fears of a two-front war continue in the weary yet optimistic streets of Berlin, and the growing rate of casualties in the Western front has led to new protests in isolated industries, as well as strikes in Prague protesting the arrival of a new Reichskommissar..."

"There is escalating tension within the National Assembly at Bordeaux as casualties mount on the Western Front. Whereas the SFIO embraces Giraud as young volunteers chant "General, nous voila!", the right takes distance after the veto of an anti-Soviet motion at the LON. Citing the need for a peace with honor, Marshal Pétain has announced his presidential candidacy for later this year, although he has ruled out the prospect of negotiating over Alsace and Lorraine..."