JerseyJohn
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Posts posted by JerseyJohn
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"Eleven years and sixteen resolutions to do nothing, so we do know something about the man!"
Guess who -- on -- guess who?
Abe Lincoln, the first Republican President, was also caricatured as a monkey. He was referred to as "The Original Orangutan" by his top general (McLellan '62) and his Secretary of War (Stanton) called him "a first rate second rate man" -- He was seldom referred to in terms as polite as "the simpleton." So the simian image succeeds in putting George W. in pretty distinguished company.
[ November 08, 2002, 05:16 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Nein, you are a bunch of dumpkoffs!
It ist I -- Wilhelm Dorkmann -- the only human beink the committee on racial purity vass unable to klassify -- seen here marching out hof step, und to'der beat hof a different drummer. -- Und you vorry about your own damn tusks! :mad:
[ November 08, 2002, 03:55 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Holding slot -- Photo of Hitler and Ion Antonescu with entry to be inserted, then photos of Yugoslavians Dragisa Cvetkovic and Prince Paul with nazi officials, if available.
-- Welcome aboard Brady and Cortes, great initial entries both. --
[ November 07, 2002, 09:44 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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*** ***
Some people, even those who wish to maintain a low profile, find that politics is in thier blood and, sooner or later it just takes over!
A few improntu speaches, just like old times; once a public servant always a public servant.
-- "And let me tell you, my adapted people, that no one ever solved anything through a war -- on the other hand, a mass slaughter at regular intervals cleanses things, much like a good, healthy transfusion . . .."
Then it's back home for a candid interview.
"Yes, I have been living in this lovely country since mid-1945, Miss Walters -- Thank you, I take care of myself, no drinking or smoking or womanising and most of all I am a strict vegetarian.
-- Yes, it is an unfair law about having to be born here as a prerequisite and that is why it must be changed.
-- Of course I am a citizen!
-- Now, regarding that earlier subject, while I do not wish to defame others who perhaps lack the moral courage to put their life on the line and are simply weaklings and cowards yet ran for public office and -- sorry, I did not wish to become excited. Miss Walters, would you please pass me those pills over there. -- Yes, the large ones in the very huge bottle. -- Thank you Eva, I mean Barbara . . ..
-- The pills are, shall we say, a little of this and a little of that!
-- Calm again, much better, where were we -- ah, yes, as I was saying, unlike certain people who were born here and attained high office despite their contemptable cowardice, I neither dodged the draft nor joined an orgainzation such as the National Guard. No -- in fact, in my native land I was a highly decorated war hero, Miss Walters and -- ah, but I'm getting excited again and I'd meant to remain calm. Miss Walters, have you seen my pills by any chance?"
[ November 07, 2002, 07:37 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Jeff and Bill -- my deepest apologies. Your hijackings are sacred to all decent people everywhere. Transgressions such as my own are beneath contempt and will not be tolerated!
[ November 07, 2002, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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"Yes, the fellow applying for the advisory position."
[ November 07, 2002, 08:20 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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"The Americans really do need a chancellor to help out, perhaps streamline thier political system, maybe even take over."
[ November 07, 2002, 09:02 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Agreed most heartily on the award! Will be back on late tonight, hope to be knocked over as usual by more great stuff. Enjoying this immensely. It's a whole new concept "Factualfiction."
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Will do -- added a few more photos on the earlier pages.
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Carl -- Thanks for the photo-inserting info. At first I didn't care for it, but after a while it becomes enjoyable.
Zeres -- began inserting photos; left a few slots open and will find action shots to fill those later. At the moment it's mainly portraits to help identify some of the people involved. Hope nobody minds my captions -- I opted more for info than humor, though that will probably change later.
Still holding off on new postings for a while till things move forward a bit.
Love that map of the Low Countries on page one, and the French Flag. The site is filling out and looking much better.
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"I've had worse --!"
"No you haven't!"
"Oh yeah, well come back and fight you coward!"
"And what're you gonna do, you silly bastard, BLEED ON ME!"
Arthur to the limbless and red-stained Black Knight, fearless Guardian of the Bridge.
[ November 06, 2002, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Anyone know when Europa Universalis III will be coming out?
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Hubert -- revised posting.
Having some sort of on the map representation of North America is a nice touch; the idea of building in German ocean-borne logistical problems as suggested seems very sound.
To represent the effect of additional dock facilities and resources harnessed that would improve Germanies chances, why not have a trans-oceanic Axis invasion next to impossible due to very low supply levels before the Axis conquers England, then more feasable after England is occupied, and very feasable after a Russian surrender -- if the U.S. isn't already in the war the game ends, if it is, the Axis can start putting his expanded navy into high gear and getting ready for the big event.
It's an abstraction, but so are other game features and all the same they work out fine.
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Original posting deleted.
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[ November 05, 2002, 08:48 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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An early Sealion is a recurring problem with these scenarios. As the Axis I find it the only route; at the very least you get London quickly and, with only a few armies and two Luftflottes + HQ in the country, you can make your way north and, over the course of a few months, take everything even if fighting against the Russkies.
The only solution has to be reinforcing Britain from the start -- after Dunkirk Britain was quick to muster it's overage WW I veterans into a homeguard.
Not having a mobilization schedule there's no way to do this in the game. The next best thing might be an understegnth army posted in London at start named "Homeguard" with a couple of half sregnth supporting corps, HG 1 & HG 2 posted near the city with the "Acuchinleck" HQ half stregnth and midway between London and Manchester. They would be too weak to be of much use in France and could be gradually reinforced to defend against an actual invasion.
In reality there was only a one month window of opportunity Germany missed for a quick try at seizing Southern England. It could probably have been done as an airborne operation seizing a channel port with it's airfields, then bringing reinforcements and supplies in by air till the beachhead was expanded to include the other channel ports and their airfields, at which point they could have been shipped them in.
The converted barge substituting as landingcraft idea was ridiculous and would never have come up (it was the equivalent of the Normandy Invasion being conducted by troops in Higgins Boats setting out from the British Ports and going straight to France!).
Unfortunately, game mechanics don't take these things into account so I think the only viable solution is the homeguard suggested earlier. It isn't inauthentic as, by the late fall of 1940, Britain had infantry divisions in place along likely invasion areas and had placed barbed wire and other obstacles in the appropriate places.
By the Spring of '41 a German invasion would have met very heavy resistance.
[ November 05, 2002, 02:29 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Zeres --
Will definitely give it a try!
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Rouge -- Amazing how the Soviet guerilla fighters and millions of other Soviets always got the wrong end of things from Stalin and the rest of their leadership. In some cases they decorated heroes, brought them back from the front, had them make a few speaches, and they were never seen again! It's interesting how film footage of Soviet firing squads and hangings generally show people who go to the execution with little or no struggle, they move in utter and complete hopelessness.
Panzer39 --
Yes, I agree wholeheartedly with what you're saying. It's a hard topic because, from the game mechanics point of view, both Canada and the U.S. can be successfully invaded and against the computer it isn't that hard.
On the other hand, having done that it isn't satisfying because it's so unlikely that Germany could have done it. In fact, I believe it would have been flat out impossible! And, even if successful, the point that's been made about occupying the place makes perfect sense -- the best thing would be to have it become neutral again, as you said.
What I'm saying, and I'm not trying to be a bore or anything, is if a change in game mechanics is made along these lines, I think it would be better to somehow prevent any Axis invasion of North America, either the U. S. or Canada.
Such a change may not be possibe, of course. If your solution would be then I'd go that way.
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That really is all I have to say, but I wrote all the stuff that follows so, instead of deleting it I'm leaving it as speculation and elaboration on points already made by all of us, please don't think I'm laboring this to death, just developing the key points a bit.
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My basic reasoning is this: The U. S. began preparing for war in early 1940. A peacetime draft was put into effect and actual industrial reamament was already well under way -- most of it at this time being sent to England instead of being distributed to American standing forces.
The navy was already strong with numerous first line ships being completed, as was the Army Air Force, which was soon to magically expand exponentially.
In terms of naval units, an Axis invasion force, even including the Bismark and Tirpitz (which wouldn't have been available yet), Scharnhorst and Gneisnau and all four "pocket battleships" (we'll assume the Graf Spee made it back to Germany), and the carrier Graf Zeppelin (never completed, aviators never trained, tactical training never developed, etc.)could not have defeated the U. S. Atlantic Fleet, which had additional elements posted in the Caribean and South America.
Add to that the voyage itself, the number of support vessels and transports -- only a fraction of which would be carrying troops, the vast majority would be carrying their heavy equipment and supplies.
In the Pacific, the U. S., which actually had a navy consisting of many hundreds of warships and support vessels, rarely attempted big lunges, usually it was short progressions so each landing was within range of logistical support from the previous island or island group taken.
The only big lunges the U. S. attempted were Guadalcanal and Operation Torch, both in 1942 and both involving comparatively small numbers of troops. Torch was quickly reinforced to corps stregnth units, but so much shipping and so many escort vessels were tied up that 1942 became a banner year for the Wolf Packs!
And, unlike Germany, America didn't have to worry about large hostile naval forces operating in her rear -- in the Pacific the Japanese navy was scattered far to the north. Even during the great surface battles around the island the main Japanese naval forces were still far to the north and would not move south en masse through the archepelagoes for fear of being ravaged by land based air attacks.
In a German invasion of the U. S. eastern coast, we assume the initial landing succeeds. They establish a foothold somewhere, anywhere, New York, New England, the Carolinas -- and their logistical line back to Europe is impossible. American forces would be mobilized throughout the 3,000 mile width of the country and moved easily by either rail or the growing road network, to contain the initial landings. And that's as far as they get.
Axis reinforcements and supplies (they had a terrible record in Russia of utilizing local industry) need to be transported across the widest part of a sizeable ocean with limited shipping abilities while American resources and military units are sent, via train or truck to the affected region and quickly attain an overwhelming superiority.
Having ousted an invasion of your homeland would
you be inclined to make peace? I doubt it and I know I wouldn't.
I know I'm getting carried away with all this, but I want to present things as fully as possible.
Hitler did want to conquer the Western Hemisphere and didn't think much of the United States, but his thoughts along these lines were in a post war with Britain and Russia either subdued or conquered outright. He spoke often of building an enormous post war fleet with numerous battleships (and very large ones at that) and aircraft carriers. Personally I think the earliest such a fleet could have been built even with all of Europe harnessed to the cause, was 1950, but that's all speculation and a different subject entirely.
It would be great, from a game point of view, to have a North American scenario, say circa 1950 or 1952, with an additional map of the added regions and Hitler's super navy, etc..
Assuming other events proceeded historically and the U. S. developed atomic bombs -- Germany would have a big edge in jets and a lock on long range rockets, but no Atom Bomb (their program never got off the ground and they didn't have the Soviet espionage agents to "borrow" the technology) --
That would be an interesting fight; probably the United States wouldn't have dropped A-Bombs on it's own soil, but B-29s could have carried them from American shores to anywhere in the Atlantic, making an ocean crossing as risky as ever, even for the new Blue Water Navy.
Even without that sort of immediate threat, one of the first things American tested nuclear bombs on, after the war, was a large grouping of capital ships at the Bikini Atoll; one surface test and an underwater test.
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Great forum; enjoying the ideas all around.
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[ November 03, 2002, 11:29 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Carl -- You are a man of many talents, obviously.
Looking forward to your Japanese entries -- as I wrote earlier, I won't be doing anymore serious entries till late in the week. Hope you have an entry concerning the Dutch East Indies and French Indochina and their situations regarding Britain on the one hand and Japan on the other --does Britain attempt to occupy them, and if so, does Japan try to claim them as protectorites?
A very interesting situation.
In other off the board action I'm figuring on the Belgian Congo remaining under Belgian/German control with the Axis filtering small groups of reinforcements via Libya-French Equatorial Africa-Congo.
Looking forward to the next phase of things.
Once again, glad you've taken the Japanese too and am sure you'll do a super job of it.
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-- Zeres, Great character -- reminds me of the commander of the Black Watch at Gibraltar who, when Churchill asked what Gibraltar's chances of holding were and reminded him of Singapore's fall, the Scotsman said, "Aye, but in Singapore y'did noote have a Black Watch!"
The whole scene is terrific -- like the idea of getting Vichy France back into things, and it helps to know the two HQs are in Northern Italy; I'll have Kesselring treat the situation as their being moved from his Theater of Operations.
We are in full agreement as to further progress. At the moment we're way out in front of a lot of empty spaces. I'm looking forward to going back and filling in the ones I've posted. Originally I'd intended to seperate my photos and scenes, but I've changed my mind on that and will integrate them, that way more subjects can be covered in the same amount of space, and with photos, too!
Yes, Goering is also one of the guys I'm looking forward to finding photos of. Probably, in some of those back postings of mine that are currently blank I'll have Goering telling those shredded secrets.
Glad about the Belgian decision -- I'm working on a scheme where King Leopold's Government, on Hitler's urging, is finding ways to sneak Belgian and German volunteers down to defend the Congo with the secret aid of sympathetic Americans! Also, Goebbels will be using Queen Wilhamena for further propaganda footage. I have to find some photos of her and Leopold.
It would be very good if someone else takes the Japanese. I'd love to handle them too, but as it is I've got a large cast and characters from several countries and for one thing, don't want to hog too much -- as you say, there are others out there who surely want to chip in -- and for another, I've about reached the limits of my capabilities.
It's becomming difficult to handle the various Germans and Italians and Vichy French with the new additions as well. Along the way I remembered the German-American Bundists -- they might be the first interesting group that is not used in this thing. Perhaps Rick will handle them, or, I can write them into a scene or two; they would more active than they were historically as an outcry against all the British and Free French "aggressions."
Actually, I now think they definitely should be in a few scenes, coordingated by Goerings Propaganda Ministry, then they can be rounded up as subversives by the F. B. I.. I'll wait for Rick's opinions before writing any of it.
Well, glad you responded so early, clears me to watch 60 Minutes and some other Tube attractions; will begin working my way forward again from page 1, this time with photos, and hopefully we'll be moving ahead again from this point later in the week; say Thursday or Friday.
Smoking is a horrible habit, but what the hell, if you enjoy it you may as well. I think the reason it was so popular through the fifties and sixties was because everyone, including me, figured we'd be incinerated by the fifteen minutes of WW III. Then it didn't happen and now we're unexpectedly alive and a bunch of caughing middle aged wrecks. Life's a bummer.
[ November 03, 2002, 07:19 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Rouge -- Your two cents are worth a nickel.
Great photo and great point.
Once invaded I don't think the U.S. would have sued for peace unless it were in the ruins of Berlin. Hawaii is much further away than Boston and the whole country went instantly ape when it was attacked, and remained that way for years, through a dozen un-American bloodbaths in both theatres.
Eventually the ferver started tappering off; by '45 there was very little enthusiasm for an actual invasion of the Japanese Home Islands, especially among veterans of the European war who definitely felt they'd already done enough!
The U.S. anticipated so many casualties in the Japan invasion it ordered a ton of purple heart medals, so many, in fact, that it hasn't put in another order since.
Additionally, regardless of how ill-prepared the U.S. was to defend it's shores, I think Germany was even less prepared to invade them. Their lifeline would have been too long and the invasion force far too small.
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"There are some parts of New York you better not try invading."
Bogart (as Rick) in "Casablanca."
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Still motivated and always a partner in any crime -- I live in New Jersey where homocide is a misdemeanor!
Will take a while to add photos and maps, my schedule is zipped till about Thursday. Will leave the scenes pretty much as I wrote them and unillistrated, but will delete all the personal postings such as this one and add the illustrations with captions in those areas.
Pleased you mentioned Belotte/DeGuale, it was becoming a little confusing.
Will hold off on additional postings till end of the week -- by then I'll know what to do with the Germans currently roaming around Italy. I've put Kesselring in his main historical role, as theatre commander of the Med. He also directed much of the defense of Italy in '43/44. If you want to use him as a HQ give me some indication and I'll replace him as OB sud with a German Field Marshal who doesn't have an HQ named after him -- we'll just say Kesselring requested a field command when Berlin wouldn't give him the upper hand over Mussolini.
I'd like to know where Rundstedt and Bock are going -- I'm planning a scene with those two meeting with Kesselring, the smug Prussian aristocrats criticising "The Corporal's" decision to send so many troops to Italy to drive the Brits out of Bari and Smiling Albert enjoying it but failing to get through to them on the importance of raising Italian morale and fighting ability, etc..
There has to be a Vichy scene in reaction to their reentry into the war and I'll have to find out what's going on in Algeria and Syria before I write it.
What's America's reaction to the attack on Vichy France and where does it stand over all?
Finally, I have to put Neysey and Goebles in action using mostly propaganda regarding these further British backed "aggressions."
Goering will be revealing Bellote's shredded papers soon, but I'm waiting for the right time.
Anyway, as I said, will delete the fluff areas and posting photos, at a very slow pace due to other activities, during the next few days. In the meantime, hopefull the above questions will be answered so I can start adding more scenes.
Also, have gone back to beginning and deleted all non-story messages and written in their place "Photos to be inserted here" so we'll have an idea what those areas will look like.
Will leave the message to Rick another day or two as I'm not sure he's checked back in and I want him to have my positive feedback on his Roosevelt posting, which I like.
PS -- fill me in on the Balkans; I've been planning to have Kesselring convince Mussolini to stand pat in Albania and North Africa, then later ad lib when Yugoslavia coups.
Edited an early posting, believe it was on page one, to introduce King Leopold III of Belgium and Queen Wilhamena of Holland as characters in case future references are made to those countries.
Are we using DeGaulles photo for Belotte?
What's the thread on British & Free French with regard to the various French, Belgian and Dutch off map colonies -- are the British attempting to occupy The Dutch East Indies or the Belgian Congo? I'm planning a scene where a German physisist tells Hitler about the Congo's uranium; I figure the Dutch/Belgian governments, having been attacked, would make every effort to hold on to all their overseas possessions.
What are the Japanese doing and are they pretending to be friends of the Dutch/Belgiums alligning against the British? I think they would try and become the East Indies Protector as a justification to landing troops to help safeguard their Dutch friends.
If nobody wants to take the Japanese I wouldn't mind adding a scene or two with them discussing these things, etc., it would add depth.
Also planning to use von Neurath and Ribbentrop in diplomatic ventures in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Greece but need to know where these places are heading in the overall scheme of things.
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The messages here will be deleted and My next scene will go in this slot.
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[ November 03, 2002, 05:57 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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This sort of blow by blow account with photos and maps and all is much more enjoyable than the usual bickering and in-fighing that was happening in these forums.
You're right about the Hiler movie "Broken Mirror" or "Looking in the Broken Mirror?" It was like something Franz Kafka would have written. The actors were all great in a surrealistic sort of way and I especially enjoyed Hitler strangling Goering in his full uniform! The voice of Hitler justifying his life rang true, I could imagine him bringing up the points that were mentioned "-- If I'd have stopped after the Victory in France . . .. etc"
[ November 03, 2002, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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Commander of Luftflottes I and II in the early days of the war, Albert Kesselring proved to also be an outstanding commander of ground troops. As commander of O. B. Sud he gained valuable time defending Italy while elsewhere the Reich suffered one disaster after another.
Despite his nickname of "Smiling Alburt" he believed in hanging partisans from Railroad Bridges and was imprisoned as a war criminal after the war, having originally been sentenced to hang with the sentence commuted due to much sympathetic testimony.
* * * * * *
Newly promoted Field Marshal Albert Kesselring leaned back on his large office chair and moved it slowly, left to right, taking in one at a time the oversized wall maps in his still unfinished Rome office.
His gaze lingered a moment on the open door and the Italian glasier still working on it's unfinished lettering, "OB Sud."
He whispered "Commander in Chief South" and thought it had a fine ring; large, vague, more than merely 'Italy' or the 'Mediteranean.'
The thought made him smile, then he thought about the mischevious lilt in Goering's voice whenever he called him "Smiling Albert" and he laughed a little.
The glasier turned, a defensive expression on his face, and Kesselring told him, in perfect Italian, "That is very beautiful work. You Italians are great artists in everything you do."
The grateful glasier grinned and bowed his head, "Gratzi -- much thanks, Field Marshal," and returned to his lettering with evern more attention to detail than he had shown before. A moment later he began whistling a melody from "La Traviatta" gently under his breath.
Leaning further back Kesselring sighed and thought, 'Yes, great artists and musicians but abominable soldiers. Perhaps they'd make good fliers but their aircraft are hopeless, same with their navy, fine sailors, good officers, but too much corruption in the support system and Raeder's refused my request to share gunnery radar and other electronics with them. Without that their ships are of little use against the more modern British.'
So, what to do. His eyes lingered on the Balkans map. Did that region fall under the category of South, or East? Il Duce had designs there, had always had designs there and would send his hopeless legions to certain disaster at a moment's notice. Did he have the authority to prevent such foolishness?
What to do? Who was in charge, really, Il Duce or himself? Things needed to be clarified.
He looked at the map of Libya. The Italians could defend well enough. Except they were deficient in anti-tank weapons. Their armor was too light and their infantry officers too often political hacks, but that man with the shaved head kept posturing about an Eygyptian offensive.
He smirked, yes, send columns of infantry across that long, wide open desert without proper armor or anti-tank weapons and without proper air cover. All the more idiotic as the further east they went the less able their fleet would be to screen their flank.
Egyptian offensive -- he envisioned a flanking arrow, British armor moving round the Italian's right, sweeping north to cut their supply lines a hundred miles east of Tobruck, then disaster, an entire army forced to surrender or die of thirst. Eyes closed it was as though it had already happened.
He relaxed and listened to the man's whistling and began humming the tune himself, loudly, so the man would whistle louder and it would be a joint effort "Da -di- Laah-h-h, da-di-daah-di-da-daah-di-da-Laah-da-da-di, da-di-da-dah-di-da-de-da-di-dahh-dah-dahh --" and the two shared a laugh, the artisan turning a moment from his work and the Field Marshal nodding "We belong at La Scala, my friend!" and the phone rang.
He moved forward and answered, "Kesselring," in a hard, confident tone.
A nervous corporal struggled with "herr Field Marshal, it's -- it is a call from --"
"My young friend, stop that drivelling, take a deep breath, relax, and give me my damn message!"
"Yes herr Field Marshal. It is the Fascist Ministry on the line for you."
"Very good. Pipe them through and remember, relax and talk slowly. We will have a long time together down here and I dislike nervousness."
"Yes sir, herr Field Marshal!"
He hung up, "Corporals, they're either too pushy or too meek," and the glasier nodded and Kesselring leaned back, wondering if the man understood the real joke.
The phone rang again.
"Kesselring -- ah, Ciano! -- wonderful, everything is very fine -- Dinner tonight, yes, that would be very good."
He placed the telephone on it's cradle, paused a moment, then lifted it again and tapped it's bar several times till the young corporal answered.
"Rugger, connect me with Fieldmarshal Keitel's office and when his corporal answers I want you to forget your idiotic nervousness and speak firmly, always firmly, you are the telephone voice of OB sud -- understand?"
"Yes herr Fieldmarshal!"
"Very good."
He laid the phone on the cradle again and leaned back. A quick phone call and after dinner tonight he would know exactly where he stood. Except, just to be safe, he'd make another call later to the Reichsmarshal.
The artisan began gathering his tools and turned, proud but with a hint of timidity to see if the Fieldmarshal were satisfied.
"Beautiful, my good man, absolutely beautiful --a treat to have such beauty right on one's door; it would be the envy of your German counterparts."
The man bowed his head, red faced and pleased and when he left through the outter office Kesselring watched and saw his head held high with pride. 'That's what these people need,' he thought, 'a little pride as fighting men.'
A career sergeant snapped to attention in the doorway, "Herr Fieldmarshal. Fieldmarshals Bock and Runstedt have arrived."
"Well, that is very good. Show them in and have refreshments brought -- no, inform that young Bavarian captain, uh, Schmidt and tell him I'd like him to handle it. He knows what everyone likes."
The sergeant clicked his heels loudly and rushed off.
Kesselring shook his head, von Rundstedt had near contempt for the Italians and, since Bari, Bock refused to talk directly with their officers.
The phone rang.
"This is Kesselring -- yes, I'll wait -- Hello, Kietel, yes, very well thank you, and yourself? -- That's very good. I have Bock and Runstedt arriving and I need to know a few things. First, who is in charge down here, that Fascist gentleman, you know the one, or myself. Second, I'd like some clarification; how far East does South extend? --Yes, by all means -- I realise you'll have to ask him but if you could get back to me -- yes, hopefully in an hour or two -- that would be perfect. -- Yes, Zig Heil."
He stood, touching away the creases in his trouser legs he thought how odd it was that fieldmarshal's insignia should feel so light on one's collars.
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[ November 06, 2002, 09:37 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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There's an earlier posting a few pages back on North America with a lot of related ideas in it.
American and Canadian partisans sounds good to me.
To be honest I don't think it should be possibe for the Axis to make trans-Atlantic invasions, but since it is, I guess partisans are the best solution.
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One of World War One's greatest aces, the Reichsmarshal displays various decorations, all earned in battle, including the "Blue Max" or, more properly the Pour le Merite, Imperial Germany's highest honor. By the end of the conflict Goering commanded the elite "Flying Circus" when Baron Manfred von Richtofen (The "Red Knight"), after racking up eighty victories, the highest tally of any airman in the war, was himself killed over France.
Hermann Goering as a WW I Fighter Ace.
[ November 09, 2002, 08:40 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
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"Monsieur Reichsmarshal, may I compliment you on the excellent wine collection you have accumulated and also the exquisite model trains."
Goering nodded, pleased with the little fool's manners and generally excellent toadiness.
"And General, may I say that, in a world so full of smelly gasoline engines, it is a pleasure to dine with a military man who has not forgotten the virtues of the horse."
They clinked glasses and drank.
"Ah, what marvelous things you have done with this place."
Goering's face took on a confused expression --"Oh, did you live here once, general?"
Neysey straightened. "Not I, herr Reichsmarshal, but the traitor Belotte!"
"Surely you are joking with me!"
"No, herr Reichsmarshal, I swear to you on my late mount Oatseater that three years ago I sat at this very table dining with Belotte."
"Ah -- I see. How interesting. Well then, the two of you were friends."
"Never!"
"But you dined with him, did you not?"
"But not as a friend!"
Goering nodded and smiled affably, "Yes, I understand -- I believe in dining with enemies myself -- and besides, these days one never knows, the lines have become so blurred."
An orderlie poured more wine and Neysey raised his glass, "To my gracious host and very, very good friend, Hero of the London massacre -- I mean of the great London Triumph, herr Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering!"
Goering let out his friendliest laugh and clinked glasses; he could toast like this for days on end, and sometimes did.
Another round filled by the orderlie. Goering raised his glass, "And here is to my eternal friend, the voice of sensible France, General Henri Neysey and all those behind him."
Another clink.
After the toast Goering waved his hand expansively, "I came across this place quite by accident and saw it was unoccupied, so I moved in. I'm both amazed and filled with irony that you say it was Belotte's. I must take some time to look around, when things quiet a bit, who knows but that I find some odd item or other that may be relevant to the current struggle."
"Yes, herr Reichsmarshal, an excellent idea. Perhaps a letter might even turn up explaining why that viper had me stationed in a remote outpost in that horrible Equatorial Africa."
Goering smiled, "Perhaps. We shall see."
The little Frenchman smiled while the orderlie poured more wine. Goering thought, 'if I excuse myself and tell the operator to call with a fake emergency, perhaps I can have this imbecile out of my house in ten minutes.'
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[ November 09, 2002, 08:43 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]
Strategic Command 2? What changes?
in Strategic Command 1
Posted
Have to agree with Rouge and JayJay --
It's a good idea in the spirit of organizing the subject, but in other forum pages a lot of us have posted volumes along these lines -- and often in more than one forum. My own experience was to flail away, writing tons, then going back to the days before I joined and -- whammo! -- not a single one of my thoughts were original.
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Agreed with the points you've listed --
I think it might be difficult incorporating airborne ops in the game mechanics as they weren't dropped in corps sized operations till pretty late in the war. Of course the first large operation, the Germans taking Crete, involved about that many troops, but most of them were flown in after the airfields were taken. Still a good suggestion and I hope it gets incorporated.
Winter and especially some sort of Russian Winter are sorely missing -- the reduced number of turns for bad weather months is good, and has an effect, but isn't the same as what Germany experienced in Russia or the Americans (briefly) in the Ardennes. Again, a fine suggestion and I hope it, too, becomes incorporated as I'm sure it will be.
[ November 08, 2002, 07:47 AM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]