JerseyJohn
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Posts posted by JerseyJohn
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Wachtmeister -- Sounds like the key, or at least one of them.
Concerning the overall topic --
I think hans_micael was essentially correct about Turkey much earlier in this post.
She had been very badly burned as the Ottoman Empire -- to the extent that England and France actually drew up plans for the country's complete dismembering in partnership with Greece, but the plan was dropped at Versailles (leading to the Greek-Turkish war of the early '20s as mentioned earlier, either here or in one of the other never ending forums
and was wary of losing everything by alligning with the losing side. Most of the comparatively few accounts I've found of Hitler and the lunatics in his foreign office trying to get Spain, Portugal and Turkey to enter the Axis have been comical.
To begin with, prior to the Polish campaign, Germany hadn't devoted much diplomatic effort to enticing either Turkey or Iraq or Persia into the fold because it was well known that all three nations had strong anti-British/French elements and numerous pro-Axis sympathizers. It was generally assumed that -- when the opportune moment arrived -- there would only be last minute details to work out. Diplomatic efforts were focused much more on the Balkans and the West.
It has to be remembered that, until the actual invasion of Poland nobody was entirely convinced Britain and France would stick by their commitment -- France, especially, as prior to the Sudatenland she was a supposedly ironcald ally of Chechoslovakia.
In the original Axis plan, circa late '38 with Munich behind them, the plan was for Hitler to start his war in 1941 at the earliest -- either in Poland or the Low Countries or Scandanavia, it was a bit vague. Both Mussolini and Franco were receptive to that as it provided enough time -- in Italy's case to finish an armament program and for Spain to finish consolidating it's position and getting the ecomomy back in order.
By starting his invasion two years early Hitler caught both his sidekicks by surprise and neither of them were even remotely prepared for war.
The failure of Italy and Spain to enter the war caused more peripheral Axis sympathizers like Turkey and the Middle Eastern states to begin hedging their bets.
Even the most pro-Axis Turks were, from the start, talking in terms of regaining the Middle East possessions lost by the Ottoman Empire in the First World War (part of which was the new nation of Iraq, also being courted by Germany till it's pro-axis coup in '40 was put down with British intervention). They hadn't forgotten that in that war Germany had convinced them to attack Czarist Russia in the Caucassus -- exactly as Hitler wanted them to do in the sequel -- and they also hadn't forgotten that, while they were busy in the mountains and in the Balkans/Dardenielles, Britain and France had defeated her in the south.
Consequently, they were always adament that this time they wouldn't enter till after the USSR was either defeated or driven out of the Black Sea region. They made those conditions pretty clear but Hitler kept hearing what he wanted to hear, which very often varied from what was actually being said.
Presumably he felt the situation had changed sufficiently with the Fall of France for Turkey to move safely without fearing attacks from the Middle East. If Italy had any real offensive ability in Lybia he might have been right as the two could have worked in a strategic pincers drive on the Suez; but the Italians were a paper lion, though I doubt that figured in Turkey's reasoning at first, it had to have been a factor after the British routing of their Cyrainica armies.
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Italy's effectiveness depended, in large part, on the British being knocked out of her Gibraltar stronghold, making Egypt a distant outpost and virtually isolating Malta. But none of that could come about while Spain was neutral. Which was why Italy kept stalling -- Ribbentrop kept telling Ciano not to worry, Spain would be entering any day now! At the time Franco was telling Ribbentrop on another phone line that he hated the communists and felt betrayed by Germany's pact with the USSR! :mad:
In 1939/40 Franco was dead set against joining the Axis for obvious reasons already stated. To make things really farcical Hitler sent the head of the Abwehr, Wilhelm Canaris to soften him up and Canaris took him aside and talked him into neutrality -- Franco's fears of Germany were unfounded as most of Wehrmacht was already being transferred east -- if Spain joined the Axis Germany would be unable to either help her defend her coast against British incursions nor bolster her economy to make up for the loss of British trade, etc. -- how'd you like to have Canaris working for you!
Then the double agent admiral did the same for Portugal, also run by a dictator, Salazar. Meanwhile Hitler, never suspecting Canaris had his own agenda, went crazy trying to figure out why these presumably sympathetic fascist dictators weren't throwing in with the Axis.
Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr intelligence network and a secret anti-nazi!
Of course Hitler's brand of diplomacy didn't help. He offered Franco Gibraltar but wanted one of the Canary Islands for a naval base. Franco replied that he had no problem with Britain in Gibraltar and like the Canary Islands as they were. Hitler did a slow burn.
He couldn't offer any of French North Africa -- which is what Franco really wanted -- because he was still trying to get Petain and Vichy as true member of the Axis -- Germany still pined for what remained of the French Navy.
The two dictators in their only meeting. After the conference Hitler's smile was not as pleasant.
Another tragic comedy, Hitler kept dangling the release of French POWs and the return of the French mineral deposits but only after he got the Donitz Basin up and running, etc., but the old marshal, so often called a pro-nazi traitor or senile collaborationist, wasn't buying it.
About that time Molotov was in Berlin and in the middle of a diatribe about Britain's collapse a timely air raid occurred. Ribbentrop resumed the conversation in the bomb shelter and Molotov pointed a finger at the ceiling and asked whose bombers were disrupting things. :confused:
Germany's diplomatic methods in the Balkans were even more subtle. Hungary was already extremely pro-German long before the war but with Yugoslavia, before broaching the alliance issue hours of home movies of burning Rotterdam and Warsaw were shown.
Great Moments in Axis Diplomacy!
Afterwards -- Prince Paul seemed more conducive to being Germany's friend. The coups and it's disastrous results proved him right -- in all likelihood Yugoslavia would have filled a role similar to Bulgaria's, a quiet ally in the camp only to assure it's not going over to the Allies. Bulgaria didn't even send troops to fight in Russia.
Meanwhile Turkey stuck to her original position and Hitler kept trying to entice them with random gifts of weapons and other commodities -- things his real allies, Rumania and Italy were in desperate need of! And the Turks kept saying, thanks, nice stuff, but we think we'll wait till you actually dispose of Soviet Russia, then, well, perhaps . . ..
That nonsense went on thruought most of the war.
After the U. S. entry and Rommel's defeat in North Africa Turkey's position was decidedly negative, but Hitler continued to woo them long after there was any chance of their entry.
So, with all that in mind, I was amazed when Spain, and even Turkey joined the Axis in some of my games.
--- * ---
Meanwhile, back in Longon --
The Spring of 1944 rolls around and Winston Churchill, remembering Dieppe, was so impressed with the Normandy invasion plans that he put his own idea into the arena:
Why not land in Portugal, where Britain's traditional friends -- the Portuguese -- would wecome them ashore. From there it was assumed Franco would also extend a helping hand and it would be off to Paris via the easy Iberian mountain route! His chief of staff listened patiently and -- in a calm voice -- said he'd resign on the spot if Churchill didn't get out of his office! I guess he wasn't interested in another "soft underbelly" campaign, or perhaps he recalled Gallipoli, Norway, the expidition to Greece, Crete and Singapore. As one British MP says of Churchill in a World at War interview " -- it was always something like Gallipoli with Winston, a fine idea but for some reason or other it just didn't work!"
Which is not to meant to give the impression I don't personally have a healthy degree of admiration for the man, because I do.
--- * ---
As our friend Wachtmeister points out, unless the Axis is really having an incredibly bad game, Turkey's entrance is decisive against the USSR. Spain would be good if the Allies are being played by a human as it secures Gibraltar against the U. S. -- presumably Britain is already gone and a Spanish army can simply occupy the place as a garrison.
Against the AI a Gibraltar garrioson doesn't matter much because if Britain is knocked out America vies for immediate and total isolationism! I've only seen it stir to reconquer Canada if I've gone that route -- and if you garrison the place it doesn't even do that.
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Regarding Axis Dipolmacy: There's a Three Stooges short with Curly as Mussolini and Moe as Hitler -- I happened to see it last week and thought aside from being funny, it happened to be awfully accurate.
--- * ---
"Did he really stop or is there more? I can't figure what gets into this guy, probably he lives in a cave or something!"
[ November 24, 2002, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Batavian's views on an Allied invasion of the Low Countries --
Agreed 100% -- playing a PBEM at the moment as Axis against Martinov using his own 1939 modified scenario. Mart' invaded the Low Countries as the Allies and it's really thrown my Axis timetable way off. That river line can be a killer; even after you push it back it's still difficult capturing Brussels, especially against determined land, sea and air defense -- though, of course, the allies pay for such tanacity in much higher attrition.
A stiff diplomatic penalty for the allies invading the Low Countries would serve to keep the game historically structured, the question is whether we want to sacrifice play options to preserve historical integrity.
As Rambo points out, the Low Country invasion might be the only way to keep France from being crushed outright.
I lean toward the allies incurring a very heavy US entry penalty for the invasion as England and France would appear in American eyes to be as much an aggresor as Germany.
Naturally, the Soviets wouldn't have been concerned one way or the other.
[ November 23, 2002, 11:43 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Just went to Otto's, was too impressed to think straight and forgot to download CvM's campaign, though I'll go back for it.Originally posted by Carl Von Mannerheim:I hate France,
try my campaign at otto's www.ww2n.com/schq entitled: VIve' le Reich!
That is one AWESOME site!
[ November 23, 2002, 09:05 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Duplicate Entry. :eek:
Will fill in with a picture, something tasteful that won't upset anyone.
Please see posting below this one for comments.
[The Mona Lisa should be next]
[ November 23, 2002, 11:54 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Glad to hear about it -- will drop by soon.
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JayJay_H
Agreed, if your enemy has heavy tanks L-5 you sure as hell better research anti-tank guns!
Revising things a bit, when I said Allies I was thinking of Britain.
I think Germany and the USSR should concentrate on land oriented and air research while Britain and Italy would be more inclined to naval research. I would still put Industrial and Jet Planes very high on the list in both camps.
Rocketry is a comparative luxury in this game; not of much use till L3, not really effective till L5, though I love using them they're really a rich man's toy.
Glad JayJay caught that, it's a good clarification.
[ November 23, 2002, 07:39 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Jbor --
I was perfectly sober and accidentally moved a German corps through Warsaw, defeating my whole intention. Next time I'll compromise and have a few shots before playing! :eek:
[ November 23, 2002, 08:16 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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-- Compassion, Rouge, JayJay_H, I/O Error, Marlow, Waltero, BrianTheWise, FlashGordon, Jestre and the Usual Suspects.
Great Forum for info -- turning into a multi-volume history. I think we're starting to repeat ourselves on numerous items.
For example, it was pretty much established earlier, I forget by whom
that the bulk of German horses were used for transport and not as cavalry -- the Werhmacht only had one cavalry division and to the best of my knowledge it was never employed in battle -- I'd be indebted to anyone who knows anything more about that unit and cares to share that knowledge; it wouldn't have been inconceivable that it was employed against partisans, but I don't think it was.Another area is who had the better tanks in North Africa. As mentioned earlier by several of us, Rommel's trump card was being able to lure British armored units into his killing zones where they were done in by anti-tank guns, including 88mm anti-aircraft guns adapted for the purpose, and not generally destroyed by Rommel's own tanks which were, as correctly mentioned, very heavily PzIII & early Pz IV varieties. By the time he received Tigers he was in Tunesia with his back to the wall and von Arnim screwing things up in the north.
None of this is meant to ruffle anyone's feathers, but as I was going back reading the early entries it seemed to me that we were starting to go into a loop.
Really enjoyed I/O--s Soviet Garden entries. It's too bad EB & dgaad aren't posting, by now we'd be in the middle of a collossal pro and anti Stalin confrontation
[ November 23, 2002, 07:25 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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For Axis my priorities are:
1) Jets : till they reach L3; then again after opponent is also @ L3 -- get a good edge on jet aircraft and other things fall more easily into place.
2) Industrial Production, otherwise you can't affort new units as their Level increases.
3) Air Defense Radar, big help to your airfleets.
4) Heavy Tanks -- essential.
5) Anti-tank Guns -- also essential.
6) Long Range Aircraft
7) Gunnery Radar.
8) Rocketry.
9) Advanced subs.
And that's about it.
For the Allies it's about the same except I'd put sonar in there instead of rocketry and would move gunnery radar up a notch.
Generally I think Jets and Industrial Production are by far the most important.
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Thanks 82nd -- The SC forum always provides great inspiration!
Your 14 Rules are wise and worth memorizing.
[ November 22, 2002, 03:37 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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[should be a still from the Wizard of Oz with Dorothy & group at the Emerald City door]
"And -- if it isn't asking too much, I'd also like a few things for my friends."
[ November 22, 2002, 03:14 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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mkctanker
"I have read your posting several times and find myself deeply moved by your precicament.
"Beyond doubt your best bet is to comb the previous forums and memorize all the entries posted by this JerseyJohn fellow. On my planet -- a place whose name you would find unpronounceable -- he is thought of very highly, but then we worship a creature very similar to your earth frog.
"In any case, you need not fear the darkness as these pages are blessed with an abundance of wise sages who, between them, know virtually everthing about virtually everything. Just work your way back through the 68 or so pages, the hundreds of Forums, and thousands of postings. Eventually all will become perfectly clear.
"By the way, normally your situation would not affect me in the least, for on my planet we lack what you would call empathy, but JerseyJohn has convinced me that it is a basic requirement and now I am practicing sensitivity. Thank you for the opportunity to do so."
[ November 22, 2002, 02:54 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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-- JP_Wagner
Know what you mean, for a while the PC wargame was awfully neglected, especially on the strategic level. I'm glad the manufacturers finally realize we're part of the market! -- Thanks for the lead-in, and the Duke thanks you as well.
-- Compassion --
Wild and crazy -- if your entry didn't get this thing locked up it means MadMatt is either asleep or in a very mellow mood today. :cool:
If this Forum goes much longer I'll give it the acid test and post my still from Cabaret of the Hitler Youth Kid singing with his arm raised. That one seems to be an automatic lock up -- with an explanation like "Off topic and not fit for decent people to look at!"
The hell of it is, I post things like that, shake my head, and agree with him when he locks it up.
[ November 22, 2002, 03:03 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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"Well Ed, at least you aren't 'another bored person staring at his monitor!'"
"Wagner's right, it's another pointless forum and I'm gonna have to go on down there and lock it up and throw away the key."
"But Martin, you know how doing that upsets you."
"I know but it's part of the job."
"But Martin, what about the one's who hate you for it?"
"Let'em hate me, I'm doin'it for their own good. And Wagner's right, they're just a bunch of bored good for nothings starin'at their monitors. They ought to be doing something more mature and constructive, something that would make this place a better world to live in."
"Like playing war games?"
"Well, I'm still gonna lock it up and throw away the key."
[ November 22, 2002, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Bill --
Sounds good. I'd even go for Russia annexing Eastern Poland automatically with the last polish unit's destruction. If Germany chooses not to take Warwaw for some reason, so be it.
In COS, when a unit in a city was destroyed and enemy units were the only ones adjacent to it, that city was captured. Perhaps it had something to do with avoiding this sort of problem.
[ November 22, 2002, 09:22 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Agreed with Bill -- definitely needs to be corrected; from an historical view it's impossible. It's only a game idea, which I think everyone realizes.
Correcting it may not be too simple. How do you penalize someone for not finishing off a country he's already vanquished?
It's similar to the major league baseball owners a hundred years back having to make a rule about stealing bases backwards. A player named Germany [ironically enough!] Shaeffer stole firstbase from second, then stole second on the next pitch and was credited with 2 Stolen Bases while going nowhere!
[ November 22, 2002, 01:25 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Waltero -- agree with JayJay_H, will also try it. Makes sense why the program behaved the way it did, though historically the idea is hopeless! An incredible ruse to use against the AI! :eek:
[ November 21, 2002, 04:53 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Exactly the same thing occurs in COS!
I wouldn't want to try it myself but would be very interested in the fate awaiting anyone who does.
Actually, I don't think it would be too screwy against an AI, but a human would probably crash through the Low Countries and take advantage of Germany being stretched to the limit on two fronts.
[ November 21, 2002, 04:01 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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"Gentlemen, on behalf of the Reich I say we should not worry about details -- FlashGordon has come up with a plan for the conquest of North America."
*** *** *** ***
"Good -- good, Flash Gordon says we should build it from Norway to Iceland and from Iceland to Greenland and from Greenland to Nova Scotia and from there we need only conquer the rest of North America -- it's easy."
[ November 21, 2002, 11:15 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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["Mr Ed" was an early '60s American TV show about a talking horse.]
"Okay -- Always great to hear from that French General Billote fella. Meanwhile, back on the farm, Ed says his hooves make it hard to use a keyboard. We're getting one of those voice recognition programs, then he'll be able to tell us about his experiences in the war. We figure it ought to arrive by, oh -- January."
Meanwhile, RicKhan, Cortes, Amona -- and the three main conspirators can add their ideas at will. Anything superflous will be edited out later, so as that old calypso said, 'Don't worry, Be Happy . . ..'
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Amona -- I've revised nearly everything since yesterday. If you'll backtrack to the Sterling Hayden poster for "The Killing" and begin with the Edward R. Murrow entry, you'll find all the changes, including the invasion of Russia becoming the overrunning of Yugoslavia.
-- * --
What I've used for the John Wayne/Robert Ryan/Sterling Hayden areas will be used later for story events.
This spot, for example, will later be deleted and the space used to describe something relevant to the story.
Feel free to edit your own postings in the same way where you feel things should be changed; the forum is in constant revision. It will all make sense later. The important thing is to post scenes and explore ideas, and you're doing an outstanding job with the Japanese. If you decide you also want to take a whack at the Chinese, either as communist or nationalist, feel free.
If you haven't already seen it, you ought to watch this early fifties fiasco -- "The Conqueror" -- in which John Wayne attempts to play Ghengis Khan -- after seeing it the insulted Japanese pity the Duke and weep at the site of him. It was filmed in a southwestern wasteland that had formerly been used as a nuclear test area (which was the real reason he and so many other cast members later developed cancer, though he and director Dick Powell were also heavy smokers). The landscape is absolutely barren, not a tree in sight, yet in one scene, with this bleak moonscape for a backdrop, the Duke confidently says, "Hang them!" Boy were those guys safe!
--- * ---
The way we're doing this may seem like a sloppy approach, but consider how the first thirty or forty pages of Moby Dick are built around a sailor who appears to be the main character, then Melville changes his mind and has the guy fall overboard, clearing the way for a new main character. He didn't even bother to edit him out of the story!
[ November 21, 2002, 04:29 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Amona -- not to worry -- if it's out of synch I'll just go back and replace it with something else. I wanted to jumpstart things a little.
General Billote will fill us all in very soon, I have no doubts on that.
Besides, it's as Dickens said -- one story is just as good as another. I think it was Dickens, maybe it was Lucky Luciano, I'm not sure, but whoever it was he had a point.
*** *** ***
And now, on with the show!
*** *** ***
A broadcast from the war battered British Capital.
" . . .In other news tonight -- even as Wehrmacht engineers rebuid mountain roads and bridges in ravaged Yugoslavia --
"-- that Balkan state's armies have all but crumbled under the unrelenting Axis onslaught.
"And throughout the day word has come to us of the complete and unconditional surrender of Yugoslavia's isolated and defeated armies.
"As another broadcast draws to a close it is with a heavy heart that this commentator announces the absorption of Yugoslavia -- a land of freedom loving people like ourselves -- into the medeival blackness of the nazi Reich.
"Signing off, from London, this is Edward R. Murrow. Good night, and good luck."
[ November 21, 2002, 11:32 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Compared with the tanks they had in 1940 the American Grant was a fine weapon. In fact, compared with the Panzer III in it's antitank role the Grant would still have been a pretty good weapon. In North Africa Rommel didn't have anything spectacular himself, just Pz IIIs and IVs and the Italians had outright junk. Considering which the performance of the Ariete armored division becomes noteworthy. The mainstay for Rommels victories was not his tanks but his ability to lure British tanks into being ambushed by his 88 mm's, itself a trade off because in an anit-tank role they left the rear areas without adequate anti-aircraft protection.
The Grant Tanks main problem was the placement of it's main gun -- it didn't have a traversing turret for the weapon and it's field of fire only was only to the right side.
The Sherman was a good workhorse of a tank but not a match for it's nearest Axis rival, the Panzer IV with a long barelled piece (and not the Panther). The Sherman was more mechanically reliable than most German tanks and quick, maneuverable and adopable, as were most American tanks.
There was nothing wrong with Stuarts scooting around in the North African desert avoiding combat or assisting infantry in the Pacific where Japanese tanks were few in number and generally not very heavy.
The only real problem American tanks had, untill late in the war, was they tended to be blown up fairly easily by German tanks and anti-tank guns.
It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Everyone knew that was the problem and the trick was to find ways around it.
America had no counterpart to the German Panther and Tiger and the Pz IV outfought the Sherman. But, we had them in large numbers and -- when the Shermans bit off more than they could chew --air support was just an HQ call away. The U. S. army also relied very heavily on artillery bombardment; the plan was to blast heavy resistance with massive artillery and what ever was left could be taken care of by infantry and the Shermans and air strikes. It worked.
Whether it would have worked against the German army of a year or two before is debatable but then they knew they weren't fighting that army in France 44, they were fighting an army that couldn't show itself by day and had a shattered supply network behind it. Fuel and spare parts gave out early and the more sophisticated German tanks, already prone to mechanical problems, began breaking down and being abandoned with their crews in full retreat.
An uncle of mine was a sergeant in a Sherman during the French campaign. It was difficult to get him to talk about any of it but one thing he did say has stuck with me -- it was that after riding in that thing against the Germans he didn't feel safe again till 1956! (sorry, you'd have had to hear the way he said it)
I can't fault the United States on its war production; it went with what it knew would run and mass produced it. The Sherman was incredibly adaptable serving as everything from a bulldozer to a mineclearer and a flamethrower, and was a good all around armored verhicle in normal combat. But in a tank battle I think you'd prefer to sit in a T-34.
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Most of these discussions seem get carried away on who had the better whatever weapon and consider little else. Heavy tanks are fine, but Stillwell used to kill Shiang Kai Sheks requests for them because there were almost no bridges in China capable of supporting their weight. MacArthur wanted Carriers because Nimitz had them, but King killed the idea because they'd have been worse than useless in the island groups he was fighting in.
But in these forums we continually hear about which kind of tank or plane was best and the circumstances they were being used under almost never comes up. Against troops like the Rumanians and Italians -- who lacked anti tank weapons -- almost any tank would have been effective.
Likewise, toward the end of the war in Europe when most of the German army lay in ruins or captured and it was primarily Hitler Youth and overage volksgrenediers armed with small arms and bazookas, did the United States or Britain really need state of the art armor -- especially with massive and undisputed control of the air?
These discussions tend to become accademic. I still find them interesting, but it gets a bit lame to hear how the stuka sucked because it was easy meat for spitfires -- what a revalation! Perhaps a few ME 109's for an escort might have been nice -- and I'll bet the Germans felt the same way.
"What a Grouch! Long discussions really get to him."
[ November 20, 2002, 09:21 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Exactly -- I was pleased with everything you said and wanted to reinforce it. It annoys me to hear people making fun of Poland in World War Two. They were extremely courageous and doomed right from the start. It especially bugs me -- as it obviously does you -- to hear mocking tales about how they were surprised their cavalry failed to stop German tanks.
Someone should let those experts in on a little secret, the German tank crews involved in the one verified action of that kind were full of respect and admiration for the Polish riders who tried -- not to ram lances through armor plating, but -- to somehow disable the tanks with explosives. Bravery is not stupidity, and I know of no greater bravery than was exhibited by those cavalrymen.
At any rate, even though they had just one cavalry division, the Germans still relied upon a lot of horses to haul their artillery and supplies and I never hear anybody referring to them as idiots.
In most of the world's armies, particularly those that were not heavily industrialized, horses -- either as mounts or as beasts of burden -- filled some important role right up to the fifties.
And I'm sure in places like Siberia and Mongolia they see heavy service even now.
Americans shouldn't get too smug about their own car oriented situation because these things tend to change very quickly. I remember the early seventies when sitting in line at gas stations waiting for the priveledge of paying usurous fees, people started talking nostalgicly about the good old days when you just needed some oats and a carriage and a couple of horses!
[ November 20, 2002, 08:51 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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"This is London, Edward R. Murrow reporting.
"The Luftwaffe has conducted it's largest night raid to date upon this city. Though lacking the intensity of last month's terrible daylight attacks, it serves as a grim reminder that the enemy is still posted across this narrow channel, ready to wreak further havoc at any moment. Despite the latest onslaught, Londoners emerged from their shelters at first light, amid the still smouldering ruins of their city, and carried on, as they have carried on for so many war ravaged days before.
"Also carrying on are the brave mariners on the cold North Atlantic convoy routes that feed this island nation in it's hour of greatest peril.
"And news arriving even at this moment -- in pre-dawn attacks powerful elements of the Luftwaffe -- whose ominous slackening of late from our own skies has already been noted -- struck Belgrade and other cities and military positions in Yugoslavia, paving the way for the Reich's assault on it's former friend and neighbor in the Balkans.
"First it was Warsaw, then Paris and now Belgrade, all learning in turn the nazi lesson of death and destruction from the sky that, something Londoners have become all too familiar with.
"Early reports of the conflict are confused and contradictory, but it is believed the worst has befallen Great Britain's newest ally.
"Aided by it's Hungarian and Bulgarian allies an Axis victory in the Balkans already appears a certainty. There is no word at this time concerning an Allied expedition to the Adriatic, but it seems highly unlikely. On the battle front, exploiting initial breakthroughs, panzer spearheads -- operating in the usual Blitzkrieg manner despite inhospitable terraign -- are said to be roaming freely behind Yugoslav lines, capturing munitions, cutting off retreat and disrupting communications.
"From Moscow comes unconfirmed reports that Secretary Stalin has lodged at least one protest with the Reich's foreign minister in that city.
"And tonight, even as a dark cloud continues to hover across the civilized world, the eyes of all freedom loving people turn east and even to the Far East, to await the uncertain events that have yet to deveolop."
[ November 21, 2002, 11:30 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
and was wary of losing everything by alligning with the losing side. 
Invading Britain
in Strategic Command 1
Posted
Lots of Luftflottes along the France's channel coastm -- total air superiority is nice
, German ships screening the flanks of the invasion fleet, and a quick capture of London. Be sure to send a HQ or you won't be able to reinforce your units after they've landed. After capturing London, expand and cross a few Luftflottes to southern England. When you exceed five combat/air units in Southern Britain send another HQ and don't be impatient -- attrition is in your favor as the Brit's can't replace lost units and usually can't replace serious casualties either.
Sinking the Royal Navy and shooting down the Royal Air Force prior to the event is desirable, but you already knew that! Usually, with Axis troops poised to land, the British fleet sorties from Scapa Flow, so don't position your ships too far north and give them plenty of air support -- they'll need it.
[ November 24, 2002, 07:55 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]