Let's go, CANADA! (wrestling the Soviet bear)

[Infantryman]

Prologue

In 1936 it became apparent to the Canadian government that war in Europe was inevitable. As trusted and valued ally of the United Kingdom, Canada braced itself for the upcoming conflict.

Based on the horrible experiences of the Great War, its military doctrine called for creation of small, yet highly trained and marvellously equipped army.

Such goal could not have been accomplished without considerable industrial capacity, something Canada lacked. Therefore, for few years to come, its efforts would be solely concentrated on improving its industrial base.

Frustratingly, Canada quickly found herself to be lacking coal. This trouble has been overcome, however, by trading her huge surpluses of metals for coal from the UK.

When Canadians hurriedly built new factories, Japan invaded China, Germany annexed Austria, partitioned and the occupied Czechoslovakia, took Memel/Klaipeda, and finally invaded Poland, protecting its future eastern flank by signing Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Despite courageous resistance, Poland was brushed aside within a matter of weeks. Britain and France confined themselves to mere declaration of war on Germany, not taking any military action. War caught Canada unsurprised, but yet still unprepared. Its efforts were still concentrated mostly on building its industry.

In November 1939, Soviet Union invaded Finland. The small nation fought for its freedom fiercely, holding the enemy with vast numerical superiority for several months. Still, without help from the allies, the war was lost, but the Soviets settled for what they originally asked for, instead of enslaving entire country.

In the spring of 1940, Third Reich in yet another brilliant campaign conquered Denmark and Norway. Their progress was so swift, that Allies failed to respond in any manner.

Once it became clear that France is the next country to be invaded, a small Canadian Expeditionary Force, which consisted of one heavy infantry division and one armoured division, arrived to the French ports along with the BEF.

It was about time, as reports came that the German attack has just begun...

---

Sorry, but there will be no gameplay screenshots until 1945, because I did not originally intend to make LP out of it. But don't worry, 1945 is the year when true fun and epicness were about to begin

 

[Infantryman]

Prologue, continued

Soundtrack

The allied forces swiftly moved to Belgium in order to stop the German advance. The enemy panzers, however, sneaked through the seemingly impassible forests and mountains of Ardennes, broke through the ill-prepared French defences at Sedan, crossed the river Meuse and ruthlessly pushed towards the sea, outflanking the advancing Allies.

CEF fought bravely alongside the BEF and shattered French and Belgian units, delaying enemy progress, but it was now clear that defeat was inevitable. 1st Canadian Armoured Division successfully evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk, however, while Canadian Infantry Division was left stranded on the other side of the frontline.

When Fall Gelb succeeded, and roughly a half of Allied forces were eliminated from this campaign, Germans launched Fall Rot, an operation which called for dealing a final blow to France.

Even though French were reluctant to defend their capital, Canadian soldiers defended Paris fiercely.

Then, a horrible treachery happened. Not only France has surrendered, but also turned against her former allies, cutting off the supply lines and road of retreat to Canadians, who were quickly overrun and slaughtered by the enemy. Such treason shall never be forgotten.

But war was not over yet. Italians immediately invaded Egypt, and despite horrible incompetence of their army, were actually winning. In late 1940, four Canadian Armoured Divisions arrived in North Africa, turning the tide of the battle of El-Alamein in Allies' favour.

Victory in western desert campaign was, however, still far away. After a year of fierce struggle, the Italian army finally capitulated after loosing the battle of Tripoli.

And what about victorious Third Reich? Have they conquered the Balkans, invaded the Soviet Union? No, they did not. Hitler was surely planning to turn against Stalin and defeat the USSR in another brilliant campaign, but he must have accepted that it was beyond his capabilities.

Meanwhile, the courageous Greeks were successfully withstanding repetitive attacks of pesky Italians. When victory in Africa was finally achieved, 8 Canadian armoured divisions arrived in Ioanina, and quickly lead the victorious the attack on Italian-occupied Albania.

At the same time, British launched an amphibious assault on Norway, which was... not entirely successful to say the least. Despite their initial gains, they were quickly driven by the talented German commander, Erwin Rommel (dubbed 'Fox of the frozen mountains'), to the narrow perimeter along the coastline, which was about to be broken anyway, when <guess_who> arrived to bail them out.

War in Norway dragged for months, with no clear victor. It was a see-saw campaign, with Allies winning once, driving the Axis back, and then being forced to retreat by the enemy counterattack. Canadians had particularly hard time fighting the Germans, as their forces consisted exclusively of armoured divisions, which forced them to try to force the enemy to fight the battles in the open ground.

Finally, after more than a year of fierce struggle, with help of excessive force and cunning tactics, Rommel's forces were severely mauled and closed in an isolated pocket, which was eventually forced to surrender. However, some German troops still remained in the northern Norway.

In mid-1942, the Japanese finally succeeded in conquering China. Chiang Kai-Shek was doomed to failure from the very beginning of the war, as he was abandoned by all his warlord allies, and completely forgotten by the free world. Once nationalist China was beaten, the time for warlords and the communists came.

Once the Chinese were enslaved, Japan turned its attention towards United States and Allies. The attack on Pearl Harbor finally awakened the sleeping American giant.

In early 1943, the inevitable happened. USSR began the crusade to bring communism to the entire continent, declaring war on Nazi Germany. Something has to be done! Otherwise, Sovets will rule the whole Europe.

 

[Luzur]

invade the Soviets over the Bering Strait with Canada.

 

[Infantryman]

invade the Soviets over the Bering Strait with Canada.

Feedback from Codexia is highly appreciated, but yet another part of prologue will follow, and the fate of Canada may be freely influenced only since mid-1945, once the actual LP starts. Perhaps the last sentence of the most recent part of the prologue was somewhat misleading.

 

[Quilty]

Do go on, sir.

 

[Yeesh]

 

[Infantryman]

Prologue, continued once more

Soundtrack

By infantryman at 2010-08-27





While hell broke loose on the eastern front, many European nations, including Hungary, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and Finland, rallied to the banner of fascism, to protect themselves from the Bolshevik masses. Why did they not join the Allies instead? Well, because it was the most laughable of all alliances, with UK and US having their asses kicked really hard by the Japaneese and Germans. There was not even one battle their troops won without help of Canadians.



But only thing Nazi Germany could do was to hold off the Soviets for a year or two perhaps. Therefore, Canadian leadership reached a conclusion that an amphibious landing in Europe must begin as soon as possible.



In mid-1943, 16 Canadian armoured divisions have landed in the beaches of southern Portugal, beginning the liberation of Europe.



While Portugal fell in a matter of days, Spanish resistance was fierce, with Franco personally leading his troops into battle.



Battle of Madrid was especially tough one, as the defenders were constantly ambushing tanks on the streets.



After few months, the battle was won, thanks to the arrival of a single American Marines division.



When Madrid fell, Franco was finally willing to negotiate peace terms. Spain switched sides, joining the Allies and temporarily becoming a puppet nation of Canada, in order to consolidate war effort.





Considering this as an alliance with the fascists, Soviet Union declared war on the Allies!





28 German divisions entrenched themselves in the mountains of Pyrenees to deny the Canadians access to France. They were, somehow, beaten and in Fall 1943, allies began to pour into the France.



With the German lines of defence broken, Canadians soon were on the streets of Paris.



While vast majority of German troops were still on the eastern front, allies advanced with great haste, capturing as much of weakly defended territories as possible. Before Christmas, they've managed to successfully cross the river Rhine.



The race for Berlin began. In mid-January 1944, with help of 8 Spanish infantry divisions, German capital was in allies' hands. Although using word allies is an overstatement, because besides Spanish and Canadian army, the lone Marines division was only help Americans sent, while British sent not even a single soldier to the continent!



And what were they doing? Having their asses kicked, as always. The only successful operation of the American army so far was capturing of undefended Spanish Morocco, while Japanese conquered Malaysia, captured Singapore, and chased the Brits out of Burma, then invading India and winning a crucial battle of Imphal. Right now, they are heading for undefended Calcutta, and entire India might soon be under their boot.

By infantryman at 2010-08-27



By the late march 1944, nearly entire Germany and Bohemia were conquered/liberated by the Canadians. Democratic government of Germany was already being set up. And all this has been achieved by 26 Canadian armoured divisions, 8 Spanish infantry divisions and 1 American marines division. More than two hundred divisions of Nazi Germany were trapped in Central Poland, serving as a buffer between Soviets and Allies.



But soon, German lines were broken, and Canadians faced the Red Army. Then it became apparent that they have severely stretched their lines too thin, with every 2 Allied divisions per province facing approximately 30 Soviet divisions. Intelligence reports suggested that Russians had an army of 400-500 divisions. And while Canadians had terrible difficulties with stopping Red Army forward guard units, what would happen when the remnants of the Nazi army were destroyed?

Soviets truly were unstoppable, and few days later all Canadian armies were not only overrun, but utterly crushed by the Bolshevik masses. Desperate plans were being made how to evacuate the few remaining survivors...

But then, Canadian Supreme commander woke up. It was a horrible, yet amazingly enlightening dream. He checked his calendar just in case. It was December 31st 1943, New Year's eve. He immediately approached his aide, giving an order to all his subordinate commanders. This order consisted of only two words: "full stop"...

 

[marooned]

I want to know more.

 

[Fafnir]

I want to know more.

 

[Melcar]

Fucking beautiful.

 

[Luzur]

seriously fucked up alternate reality.

Canada alone rolling up the Reich.

 

[Infantryman]

Prologue, continued for the third time

With all due respect, Sir, but why are we holding? We have got the Nazi filth on the run, now is the time to exploit our victory.

Only fools believe that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. National socialist scum is already dead, Bolsheviks are the real threat now, soldier. They have overwhelming superiority in numbers, and we must prepare ourselves well to meet them. The further we push into German territory, the sooner we'll face the dreaded hordes of the Red Army.

Do go on, Sir. But wouldn't it be a better course of action to advance slightly deeper into Germany to capture more defensible positions?

That's the idea, Colonel Quilty! We shall rush to the line of Oder river and old Czechoslovakian forts, and construct the line of fortifications greater even than the Maginot Line stretching from the Baltic sea to the Alps before the Bolsheviks come!


And thus, Canadians rushed to capture their objectives as fast as possible. In early February 1944, Berlin fell, and the enormous effort of building a defensive line began.


But as early as May 1944, Soviets broke through the German lines and began to attack the Canadian defensive line, which was far from completion.

Thus, the epic battle of Seelow Heights began...

Seelow Heights, May 7, 1944



This is it, men, the moment of glory! Hold the line, damn you! You will not embarrass the King nor the Prime Minister today by dying! Watch your flank and protect the construction site of our bunkers, for if they fall into Soviet hands, all this effort would be for nought! All the King requires of us Canadian Guardsmen is that we hold the line, and die fighting! It is what we do best! WE DIE STANDING!



Despite the Canadian reinforcements pouring from everywhere, the battle was hopeless, as Soviets brought in more and more soldiers and tanks into the fray. General Flying Spaghetti Monster was making a last stand on the Seelow Heights, personally commanding the most elite of his units, when an artillery shell hit him...





To have come so far and then to loose, all this work, and the outcome is the same? Canada is vaporised, everyone is dead, and why?

What?

Welcome to the afterlife, Flying Spaghetti Monster. You are dead. This is the afterlife. And I am God.

You're not God!

Blasphemy! You're lucky I don't cast you out or smite you, or something...

I refuse to believe afterlife is run by you! The universe is not so badly designed!

That Konev wasn't all that smart, you know. It would be a simple matter to stop him. You were so close... I know I'm going to hate myself in the morning, but I'm gonna give you another chance. It's not that I care. I just want to see how it turns out...





And then, four-star General Flying Spaghetti Monster found himself once again on New Year's Eve on 31st December 1943...



With all due respect, Sir, but why are we holding? We have got the Nazi filth on the run, now is the time to exploit our victory.

Do go on, Sir. But wouldn't it be a better course of action to advance slightly deeper into Germany to capture more defensible positions?

Shut up, you misleading bastard! If you move your men an inch forward, I'll shoot you!

 

[Yeesh]

 

[LusciousPear]

M O A R

 

[Fafnir]

I need, you most sate our hunger for Moar!

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

 

[Infantryman]

Prologue, continued for the last time

Soundtrack

Königsberg, May 1, 1944



The artillery barrage has begun several hours ago, and it did not seem likely to end soon. Russians were firing to them very often, but there was something different this time. Stalin seems to have finally ordered to unleash his hordes of the Red Army to sweep through Germany and furiously throw Allies out of Europe. And there they were, soldiers of the Third Reich, bravely, yet hopelessly trying to stem the tide, even when they knew defeat was inevitable. In a matter of minutes, dozens of tanks and hundreds of infantry would assault their positions and... OMG LOOK IT'S MICHAEL HASSELHOFF!!!11









Nazi Empire was but a buffer between Soviets and the Allies. In spring 1944, Stalin launched a massive offensive. The goal of his troops was to fight their way through the Germany and break the Canadian lines. German soldiers fought fiercely to defend their fatherland from the communists, but they were overwhelmed by the Red Army's sheer mass.



Stiff resistance Germans offered, bought precious time for the Canadians. Their brilliant offensive came to a sudden halt in late 1943. Only minor offensive operations were conducted since then, mostly to acquire more defensible positions. At the same time, great effort of constructing a new defensive line began. It stretched from the Swiss Alps all the way to the North Sea, with clear purpose of stopping the Soviets from going any further. Canadian engineers were working day and night laying new minefields, setting up barbed wires, constructing traps of all sorts, finding best places for new bunkers and strongpoints. Nearly entire Canadian industry has switched to producing steel constructions and special weapons designed to operate from fortified positions. Although the effort was immense, Canadian generals had great doubts if this could stop the Russian hordes and prayed that Germans would hold them for long enough.



But the Soviets were relentless, unstoppable. They've lost hundreds of thousands of men in their furious assaults, and yet every fallen soldier they have managed to replace with ten more. The battles that were fought were probably the most intense in human history, yet the Soviets steadily moved forward. It took them great effort to capture Poland. Breaking through the Oder-Niese line was a heroic feat. Winning battle of Seelow Hights wasn't easy either. But inevitable had to happen. Berlin finally fell. German armies could no longer fight because of their horrible manpower losses, they simply bled to death. Soviets gained momentum. In late Summer 1944, Canadians braced themselves for meeting the Soviet hordes. Their fortified line was completed in approx. 70%. It was all they could do, and they prayed that would be enough.



And ITZ came. Red Army, having slashed through entire German army, immediately began an attack on Canadian lines. Their commanders were no fools, they knew perfectly what Canadians were up to. They attacked the city of Munster, which was situated in salient in Canadian lines. This allowed them to attack the fortress with more than a million soldiers on a narrow front.



The attacking forces were slaughtered by machine gun and artillery fire from fortified positions. The fortification system was enormous, but wave after wave, the enemy reached more and more favourable attack positions, negating the advantage fortifications gave to the defenders. If this battle drags on for too long, they might be able to crack them and then everything would be lost.



But with armour divisions pouring as reinforcements from neighbouring areas, Canadians managed to take control of the situation. The battle lasted for weeks, with several dozen thousand soviet soldiers killed each day. With the casualties mounting to unacceptable level even for the Red Army, and progress comparable to movement of an asthmatic ant, the offensive collapsed, even though it seemed at certain moment, that their victory was near. Canadians sighed with relief, as their reserves were nearly completely depleted.



Thus, the front stabilized along the Canadian defensive line which became known as the Iron Curtain, as neither side could pass it. Soviets left more than 3 million men to guard this line, planning how to overcome this terrifying obstacle. On the other side, Canadians were constantly working on improving their fortifications. It would seem this was the most fortified area in the world, surpassing even once feared Maginot Line.



As the defences were nearly completed, Canadian industry changed its production focus. Keeping armoured divisions to guard fortified lines would seem a waste of their potential, thus new, specialized branch of Canadian army would be formed. Infantry units with special training, utilizing the heaviest equipment available to offset its numerical superiority against bolshevik hordes - the CANADIAN GUARD.



The brave Spaniards should also be credited for this recent victory, as about one fourth of the defenders of Europe were Spanish. How big must be the of allied powers if Canada and Spain had to stand and fight, alone?



Being unable to crack through Canadian lines, the Soviet attention shifts south to the Italy. Remnants of Axis forces were hoping to make a successful stand in the Alps. Difficult terrain and worsening autumn weather slowed the Bolsheviks significantly, but by the end of the year, soviet tanks were riding the streets of Rome.



Then, in late February 1945, Roosevelt decided it's time to finally do something, so he launched operation Torch, declaring war on Vichy France, which managed to stay out of the war.



The problem is, Vichy France was a very convenient buffer state. Canadian government was completely caught by surprise, and now they had to invade the country outrunning the Soviets, and holding their northern defensive line at the same time!



Fortunately, the Soviets were surprised either. When general Chuikov felt ready to commence the invasion, he was surprised to meet overwhelming Canadian force.



Soviets also invaded Greece, which was successfully defending itself against attacks of its puppet, Bulgaria. But when the Red Army intervened, even the brave Greeks had to fold, and soon they were driven to narrow perimeter near former Albanian capital in the mountains.



But after a month even this isolated pocket of resistance fell. Mussolini tried to make Sicily a stronghold, but Soviets after a few months of planning executed a successful amphibious operation, capturing it. Duce, along with other fascist leaders escaped to Macau, the city in China controlled by Portugal. It would seem Japan was sympathetic to their cause.



But Hitler did not flee to Macau. Instead, he and his most fanatical supporters manned U-Boots and evacuated to Norway, where Rommel was still stopping the British coming from the south and Soviets attacking from the north.



Perhaps Fuhrer hoped his troops could hold out in the frozen mountains of Norway for many years, but he was wrong. Rommel was the greatest general of his time, but his troops simply ran out of supplies. When on the 17th of May, British forces seized Narvik, they found out Hitler with his supporters have committed suicide. Rommel, however did not kill himself like others. As the new leader, he signed a peace treaty with both Allies and Soviets. Third Reich was no more. Canadian Army employed Rommel as an advisor, as every skilled strategist was needed if they were to defeat the bolshevism.



Once recruitment of Canadian Guard units ended, the industrial production refocused on nuclear reactors. Scientist believe the nuclear fission might be used to construct bombs that possess power to destroy entire cites. This could be interesting, but will also be very expensive for such a small country.



And so does the world look in June 1945. Canadians managed to quickly capture a few chunks of Italian territory and use old fortifications to defend it from counterattacks. Iron Curtain stretches from Genoa to Wilhelmshafen. Romania, Finland and Bulgaria are slave-nations to the Soviet Union, while others are directly administrated by Stalin. Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia and Turkey might consider themselves lucky, as they managed to stay out of war. Some brave Free French general landed in Tirana, where last Greek units perished, and managed to hold the city until now. The defensive lines are nearly entirely defended by Canadian Guard and Spanish Army, while nearly 30 Elite Armoured Divisions and some Canadian Guard divisions are free to conduct offensive operations. This is a sufficient force to break through soviet lines, but not enough to hold the lands that were taken, as the counterattacks would rape them. Soviet strategy is really deadly, if you are on open field, and they can't defeat you, they would attack repeatedly until you bleed to death. And Canadian manpower reserves are very small.

So, the question is what should Canada do now? You decide! Just remember, that any conventional, head-on attack will most certainly end in utter, disastrous defeat.

 

[Cassidy]

This looks like Red Alert.

Open new front in Southern Italy. I always did that when I played with Rep. Spain after the Fall of France. But be sure you have enough men to hold it and push the enemy through.

 

[LusciousPear]

Canaderp.

Right now, you're doing worse than the original Allies. ;D

 

[Infantryman]

Right now, you're doing worse than the original Allies. ;D

I'm just Canada, it's the UK and US AI that screwed things up bad.

Actually, it's very bad:



Bros, if you don't post in this thread, I won't be d to make further updates.

 

[spekkio]

Posting in LP threads?

r00fles!

 

[Brotherman Bill]

Any chance of making peace with Japan? Hopefully they would then invade SU from the east.

 

[Malakal]

Encrircle and eliminate Italian front, set up a defensive line on the Alps in the north.

Other than that I dont see how it is possible to win this with depleted manpower... Build a huge fleet to contain Japan and go for the nukes.

 

[Fafnir]

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yeah, your MP is pretty much gone so nukes are the only way. Dunno what the fuck GB/US AIs are doing? Which version of HoI2 are you playing?

Amphibious assault in Italy which would allow you to starve Red Army units in Sicily or something like that, especially if you can then retreat and pull it off again, might work. If USSR has no Navy you can go for the cheesy Archangel-Moscow route since their homeland is probably very weakly defended.