For my part, the game crashes no matter what I do. In general, I never play two missions in a row, I usually make a save during the placement phase and resume my game later. So by loading my game with this save, the game crashes as soon as I start the timer. Same if I don't give any orders to infantry or naval artillery.
My remedy was to load the last save of the previous mission, finish it and continue on Uncle Red. During the placement phase, I gave my orders to the infantry and artillery and the game did not crash.