Let's Play Hearts of Iron 2 (Preparing for D-Day in Asia)

[WhiskeyWolf]

Ho ho Poland is giving Germany a run for its money.

Everything is going according to plan, MAHAHAHA!

 

[Cassidy]

Continuity gap: I lost the savegame, but I still had a previous save from 20th of September, so I just played all the way along to 30th of September again, and some things changed a little: Operation Kaiserin became Operation Circumcision, but on the other hand East Prussia has been completely secure while the Jerries keep trying to break through the south, and thinking about it, *spoilers*. Also, unless I openly state one of my LP threads has died, it's alive.

So, without further ado.

--------------

Our Finest Minute

Despite a close call, the brave Polish soldiers silenced the guns of the Panzers and forced them to run on their tail for another time. As Elbing was finally secured, most of the Polish divisions began to move south, as the divisions in Torun also advanced towards Radom.

Operation Circumcision

With the victory in the battle of Lublin, the German invaders were about to be holed and surrounded in Warsaw, as what was expected as the most easy, simplest operation ever done during this war would occur: Operation Circumcision. Supported by the divisions in Radom, twenty thousand Tyrolese Jew Mountaineers began to march towards Lublin to encircle the Germans, leading them to an eventual defeat.

During all time, the key participation of the last bomber division with enough standing bombers to be useful of the battered Polish Air Force has been crucial in the south, as a lone German division threatening a major breakthrough through the east was, despite its advantage of the fact it lied on the other side of the Vistula river, beaten by only one Polish division, thanks to the air support. Unfortunately, the situation of the war made it impossible for Poland to assemble a true air force and test these tactics before they either were completely defeated or victorious.

And for a change, on something nobody cared about, the Allies were actually doing something, as they began bombardments against German cities. Of course, meanwhile the French were doing what they were best at: sitting down and waiting. With Allies like these, who needed enemies?

Even more ironic it was for WhiskeyWolf for he knew of the Betrayal of the West. Maybe it'll be the time to show them something about how it feels good being betrayed by allies. Of course, once the war is over, should this time Poland win. But for now, things weren't looking very good.

: The Germans are launching a massive assault at Radom! We must not let them break through or operation Circumcision will fail and our nation might fall!

: You may be all the high and mighty when talking about offense, but I know about defense better than yourself.

: Yes, you almost ruined everything in Elbing, so I'll handle the defense while you handle paperwork.

: You allowed the Germans to march straight into Warsaw! How do you dare to question my competence in defending Poland?

: They weren't marching into Warsaw, they were going to our capital to formally surrender and ask for we to make them prisoners of war.

: Preposterous!

: Not at all. Just look, we just have to give them the welcome to our prison. Now that they are so used with the city, I think it's time to finish their parole.

: This is not how a honorable officer would treat war. You are a shame to our glorious nation and our glorious army! I demand my position as Chief of Staff back!

: How ironic.

The Battle of Radom: Poland's Le Somme Redux

Hitler hoped that the Blitzkrieg would swipe through Poland in two weeks, crushing their army and routing, encircling and forcing most of it into surrender. Of course, the Nazis weren't expecting a bold assault against East Prussia, or that Poland would not simply be reactive and defensive for the whole extent of the war, and thus soundly defeated.

The month of October began with the Battle of Radom, a bloody struggle for the conquest of the region that would last for perhaps months, as in the moment this report was written its outcome remained unclear, and bring back memories of the brutal trench warfare of the First World War, despite being the largest tank battle ever seen since the beginning of the war.

Despite their numerical advantage, the defenders were weary and not fully organized, as the high command demanded expediency to secure the Vistula Line before the Germans break through, and it was likely further waves of German attacks would come to worsen the situation. There were suspicions such could be a diversionary attack to allow Germans to break through Slovakia into the heart of Poland, but considering the reputation of the the German general regarding his intelligence, that could probably be fear-mongering, as they thought it would be better to despair the Poles and break their morale by claiming they were going to do that for real instead of doing that for real.

One of the largest panzer assaults ever performed by Germany so far occurred, with the guidance of men like Guderian and Mannstein, as, right on the wake of the battle, on the night of October, a terrible thing happened while bodies began to pile through the battlefield: a large part of the defenders have been split and surrounded in multiple areas through rapid advances by the panzers, including small hills where Germans tactically outnumbered them at least at 40:1.

Among them, there was a hill with 40 Polish soldiers, 10 cavalrymen with anti-tank rifles and a bunch of mortars. Such would become one of the legends of the war. Or the beginning of the end for Poland.

The terrible encirclements continued, but despite encircled, the Poles took the best terrain to give them an advantage, as the blood began to flow from hills, and eventually, as many "Killer Hills" occurred, almost as legendary as the same one of the Winter War(but without snow), the Krautz were driven back on the dawn of October 2nd. Bravely, the Tyrolese Jews managed to make their way out of the battle, using their picks to climb the craters left by artillery shells and giving to the Germans the illusion that there was a Polish imitation of the Stuka which siren was a recording of Tyrol music. The Germans became so frightened with it that only a lone, battered Panzer battalion continued the assault for a moment, but as soon as they realized there was no storm of secret Polish close air support to crush them, the offensive resumed. Meanwhile, the salient of German advance over Warsaw was finally cut off, but such circumcision was still too new and could be reverted.

On the defensive, Poland had far less losses and despite weary, the soldiers managed to keep their cohesion while the German offensive seemingly was breaking apart. Death tolls were skyrocketing, although Germany took the heaviest losses so far, and the victory was becoming imminent, once again, for Poland.

Until something happened that would change everything. and WhiskeyWolf would realize he wasn't the only one who returned to the past in an attempt to change the course of history.

: Your Zionist agenda shall not succeed!

Echoes from the distant lands came, as a new prick, a nameless enemy with two Glocks and one cock would emerge from the ashes of the ancient banhammer. And serious business would ensue. Fucking Serious Business. The real drama, because back then the Internet didn't exist, was staggering as a secret weapon was unveiled on the field. Not even the best anti-tank artillery in the hands of the Polish Army could put a dent in it, and when it was clear that it could not be stopped by the Army, as its gigantic treads smashed everything. Something had to be done.

: This can't be real! Tell me this is a sick joke of yours!

: No, you don't need eyes to see where this is going! This massive landcruiser was given by a secret ally of our enemies, a prick whose name should never be mentioned, but it is only one, and there is one chance for it to be defeated.

: For the second time in this war, since the battle of Zamosc, we now are facing another battle that can only be won by the Air Force.

: Your reckless use of the Air Force crippled it!

: I had to disband one of our air armies of interceptors, it was a necessary undoing, but now, we must deploy again our only still useful bomber squadron to strike at the heart of the Ratte. We shall begin operation Ban TNP before that monstrosity reaches Warsaw, and while we have a chance to retake Radom!

Battle of Radom: Operation Ban TNP

With expediency, the air force began to move from air bases in Konigsberg, ironically, as fighters were called to ensure air superiority near Warsaw and bombers took off to strike against the monster.

As they approach the monster, heavy flak cannon fire began to reach them. Many brave Polish bomber crews would give their lives to ensure a chance for their nation to survive. The battle was harsh, for the monster was surrounded by air defenses, something taken advantage of as some bombers smashed through the poorly defended average German panzers, but if it wasn't destroyed, it would be the end.

After four days of intense bombing, the Ratte was destroyed, and the operation successful, as a new offensive immediately began to regain Radom, for the battle was far from over, in fact, victory seemed more distant now perhaps than when the war begun. And yet, never in the history of Poland, so many have owed so much, to so few.

Seven days of unstoppable warfare made their mark on the land, as now, Radom was becoming a No man's land, through which even sunlight had difficulty to come. The hellish environment, the countless dead and dying filled the battlefield.

Yet, the microcephallic cloaked figure commanding the Nazis ensured the Germans would never arrive simultaneously to secure their newly conquered territory, as the Polish advanced, and the first display of the "Polish Corridor" was shown in its terrific effectiveness.

Unfortunately, now it was too late to try holding Krakow, as the Germans won a significant strategic victory by securing it. But like its anthem claimed, Poland is not yet lost.

More than one month after the beginning of the war, the dreaded Stukas finally made their first appearance and began to terrorize Polish soldiers. A fast reaction was necessary, as quickly, Polish interceptors on patrol headed towards their position.

And there were no Messerschmitts to stop them as they massacred the Stukas with unwavering skill.

In 13th of October, the battle of Radom still waged on, as a parallel operation would begin, a day that many were waiting for: the Liberation of Warsaw.

Depleted by continual bombardments, the four German divisions stood bravely while they were outnumber at 5:1, but in the end, there was only one destinationfor those who survived: a prison in Warsaw, as more four German divisions were put out of the war for good. Ironically, the exact plan of encircling and surrendering the Polish to achieve a quick victory was replaced by brutal, stubborn Great War like assaults with massed forces, and so far, Poland was using elements of Germany's strategy like focal points and elastic defenses far more effectively than the Germans themselves, not to achieve a quick victory, but as their last and only hope for victory.

In October 13th, Warsaw was at least liberated as the Battle of Radom seemed to be coming at an end, a bad end for Poland, it seemed, while finally, Warsaw was once again free of German soldiers, but for some funny reason until a lone division came to reclaim it to its rightful owners, its industries would remain in German hands, magically manufacturing products that bypassed all the Polish lines and reached the German main land.

The devastation provoked by the battle was chillingly frightening. Corpses littered the battlefield, but so far, most of them were fortunately German. What would the Fuhrer think once he realized he just recreated the Great War Western Front in what was planned to be a quick and easy conquest in two weeks?

But although delayed and taking heavy losses, Germans still had the strategic upper hand. The recently arrived defenders failed to hold Radom once again, as an old critic of the strategies at hand appeared, while twenty divisions were to simultaneously arrive at Radom, hopefully not before Germans arrive as then more slaughter over tired German soldiers and lost panzers will ensue.

: I told you this would go terribly wrong!

: We just pushed fourteen divisions from Radom in the last engagement, if we keep at this pace, soon they will be so disorganized and lost that their offensive will grind to a halt.

: I see only our imminent defeat at your hands! Isn't it obvious?

: Radom is the Maw of Poland, it is the perfect spot for the Polish Corridor tactic. Wait and see, our victory shall come. And even if small, it's good to see we are finally making the army and air force work together.

: You are risking too much!

: If we positioned soldiers at our entire front we would be spread thin and unable to counter-strike. Ideally, we must liberate Danzig, Lodz and Krakow a so we can open two "Polish Corridors" at Kielce and Byd... it sucks being dubbed by a non-Polish speaker.

: You are out of your mind, we no longer have chances of retaking what you allowed for them to take!

: If you were leading this, today Poland would have already surrendered... no, forget it.

: I see. Very well, carry on with your madness, you and your lackey Geralt.

Poland Finest Minute just begun.

And somehow, there was a gut feeling that they can't just overwhelm the Germans. Gut feeling because WhiskeyWolf never trusted the intelligence gathering. But regardless, it's not very optimistic:

Will Poland survive? Will the German general cloaked figure finally figure out the severe vulnerabilities to the south, invalidating all the gamey exploits over the dumb AI used in this Let's Play till now? Only time will tell.

------

Had I used the previous game, I'd definitively have lost it. Now things look a little better for Poland, and worse too. Krakow is the major energy producing province in Poland, and losing it will be a hit for economy, but, having once tried Ethiopia, I think it's not all over yet.

 

[poocolator]

And yet, never in the history of Poland, so many have owed so much, to so few.

heh

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

I think it's not all over yet.

:tearofpatriotism:

:ballsofsteel:

:prawdziwyPolak:

 

[Cassidy]

How can Lithuania save the World and 1001 reasons to nuke or at least annex Japan

There was not much to be said about the brave stand of Poland. The stabilization of the front was underway, and it was becoming clear that, there was a chance for victory. However, the price to pay was still undetermined. Warsaw was being liberated, while Germany hasn't managed to achieve the decisive breakthrough they hoped, being thrown in another bloody war of trenches and massed assaults, and massed casualties. The victor, for now, was still not clearly defined. For now, the goal was to establish a new defensive line, one to last and stand firmly through the winter of 1939, and the closer it could be possible to push this line closer to Berlin before the winter came, the better.

For a change, the Germans initiate an attack against Elbing, as apparently eight divisions were not enough to hold it. It was a known risk, one that had to be taken as Poland is lacking in divisions, and outnumbered by the totality of the Wehrmacht.

In the skies above B-------zcz, finally the outdated Polish fighters engage for the first time, the infamous Me-109 fighters. The result of course, is very predictable as Poland secures its air superiority in such area, for all the time to come.

The new mobilizations started. Someone really was becoming lazy about what to write. So it would be better to let the facts speak for themselves.

Dumbfuck generals who always leave some areas too poorly defended.

Battles where the situation seems to be going against Poland.

Seems to be going against Poland

Diversionary offensives that end succesful

However, in these 10 days of October, as the cold of the winter approached, the liberation of Warsaw has been the most important, even if only symbolically, achievement of Poland. It was the proof that, no matter the time, no matter the cost, Poland is not yet lost, and shall regain and eventually achieve victory. But to do so, they must deserve it.

There was a hope the diversionary attack could stabilized Czestochowa and open way for an encirclement by securing it, and later Lodz. A thin hope.

The Jerries continue to put more soldiers to the north than they needed, while defenders advanced at Czestochowa.

With Zamosc secured, the drive to liberate Krakow begins, it may only become possible in 1940 Spring however, and for now, encircling as many German divisions as possible is critical.

A large amount of retreating divisions from Radom would be doomed if this succeeded. The Poles, as the devout catholics they were, began to pray that this would work, because Lodz could be reinforced before they managed to break through.

Meanwhile, small groups continued to foolish try holding Czestochowa. The situation at Lodz require the taking of risks to secure victory however.

Risks like sending nearly destroyed bomber divisions to provide air support. The situation was critical. The Germans were relentless, never stopping their attempts to break in, and outnumbering the Polish Home Army. However, right now, something have already been achieved. Historically Poland lost the war in 6th of October, and the General WhiskeyWolf knew that now things could go far better than just delaying their defeat, even without any direct support of those traitorous and cowardly "Allies"

The goal of temporarily securing Czestochowa for putting the retreating German forces at nowhere to escape succeeded. Unfortunately, Lodz became far too reinforced, and the offensive had to be halted least defeat and the counter-attack against Torun would ensue, as for whether Poland would pay dearly for not succeeding to magically make 20 divisions spawn to ensure their succesful encirclement her or not was yet to be seen, but from whatever scant intelligence was gathered, the monthly average of 5 German divisions encircled got till now was diminishing slowly the German strength, as they were smart to know building submarines is more important when they are getting a beating in a ground battle. On the other hand, the suggestions for these opportunity strikes by divisions without engineer brigades onto provinces to the other side of the river were, paradoxically, coming from a certain figure we know pretty well. And that so far represented everything wrong with Poland: The EFP - Epic Fail Poland.

Field Marshall Rydz-Smygli next to... no way, that's not a Lithuanian Hitman! The intolerable insult over the fact the relationship between Poland and Lithuania is being represented as hot hentai lesbian action rather than as manly backdoor contracts being already made with Lithuanian hitmen to kill Adolf Hitler cannot be tolerated! ... This is a shame to the glory of Poland!

: Why didn't you remember me before I should bomb with nuclear weapons those Chinese-raping monsters that think Nanjing is a gigantic rape-fest?

: What the hell are you talking about? The Japanese aren't a threat to us, and I have no idea of what are nuclear weapons.

Suddenly, the next shady figure of this epic war appears: the authentic Lithuanian Hitman. What was supposed to be a mere tiny trade from supplies of Poland to the limited surplus energy of Lithuania was nothing but a cover deal for hiring the legend that could turn the tide of the war.

: If you destroy Japan, then logically animes that decry the glory of Poland won't exist. But no other anime or manga or Hentai will exist either.


---- Random Trivia ----

Japanese propaganda for their soldiers in Nanjing in this Alternate History Scenario. Or why showing a holodisk with a pirated copy of Silent Hill 12 to someone in 1938 isn't a good idea

---- End of Random Trivia ----

: Allright, then I'll annex Japan and forbid them from making things that demoralize the image of Poland by comparing our nation with a Lesbian chick, or was it a lesbian tranny, considering that there are no boobs? I'm not sure and I don't want to know. As for annexing Japan, provided we manage to turn the tide of this conflict, we should eventually do it.

: What the hell is an anime? Lets get back to the serious affairs! The Winter is coming and we barely managed to advance or secure Radom!

: Wait, the enemy is spreading thin in Byd-----cz I hate being dubbed by an ignorant Western! The enemy has only ten divisions there. I we launch a massive assault through that river...

: Like what the Jerries tried to do in World War One? Are you out of your mind?

: No! If we break through there our lasting victory shall be guaranteed.

: And we should secure Czestochowa too, whatever it costs! We will win this war if you do as I say! I swear we will win it and be as legendary as we were in the Polish-Soviet war of the 20s!

:

----------

As you can imagine, just to see how stupid it would end before saving the game for another stop, I launched an attack by 34 divisions against the 10 divisions in that province I'd rather not fail at naming again. And it was, predictably, an epic fail that drained 34 divisions of mine of all organization they had. As for how things would go, I didn't play to the bitter end. It wouldn't be fun at all.

 

[Hobbit Lord of Mordor]

How come your manpower is increasing during the course of this war?

 

[L'ennui]

Poles breed like rabbits. Good LP, keep going!

 

[Reject_666_6]

Man, I love this game and this LP. It's reminding me of how annoying and buggy HoI3 is right now. Keep it up and take it to Berlin's doorstep.

Also, have you ever tried playing with the Total Realism mod? Once I installed it I could never bare to go back to vanilla.

 

[poocolator]

This thread is pretty awesome; good LP.

While HoI3 crashes for me, and I can't really play, I do like the way they allow organization of divisions and stuff under HQ's.

 

[poocolator]

I want to share this awesome WW2 footage from liveleak. It's not explicitly graphic.

 

[Emotional Vampire]

Field Marshall Rydz-Smygli next to... no way, that's not a Lithuanian Hitman! The intolerable insult over the fact the relationship between Poland and Lithuania is being represented as hot hentai lesbian action rather than as manly backdoor contracts being already made with Lithuanian hitmen to kill Adolf Hitler cannot be tolerated!

Actually it's gay action. Pretty much all characters in Axis Powers Hetalia are male.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

Field Marshall Rydz-Smygli next to... no way, that's not a Lithuanian Hitman! The intolerable insult over the fact the relationship between Poland and Lithuania is being represented as hot hentai lesbian action rather than as manly backdoor contracts being already made with Lithuanian hitmen to kill Adolf Hitler cannot be tolerated!

Actually it's gay action. Pretty much all characters in Axis Powers Hetalia are male.

How the fuck do you know all this?

 

[Emotional Vampire]

It all starts with a penis.
Penis leads to the Internet.
Internet leads to paheal.
paheal leads to seeing gay hentai porn with tags "Germany Italia Axis_Powers_Hetalia" WHAT THE FUCK GERMANY AND ITALY GAY PORN FUCK THE WHAT
That leads to Wikipedia.

That leads to hate.

 

[L'ennui]

I'm currently not removing doomsday from inventory. I'll continue my victoria game as the British dominion of Québec and hope the axis will woop the brit's ass enough for my great war of independance (I tried rebelling in Vickie but the most divisions I could field amounted to about 50,000 men, poorly organized, whereas the empire could easily spare 150,000 well-trained troops to smash me. It was futile, so I focused on making Québec one of the early participants of the industrial revolution instead. I hope this will be reflected in the cross-over to hearts of iron: I should have about as much industrial power as poland, at least.)

I blame this LP for the urge to play.

 

[Cassidy]

Winter War Part 1: Radom, Frozen riverbed of Aryan Blood

The Battle of Radom has lasted for almost one month now. Its toll was becoming clear on both sides of the conflict as many of the most recent battles in Fall Weiss were increasingly resembling of the trench warfare period of the Great War, Guderian got his ass handed as his Blitzkrieg failed, and opportunists and generals with more sympathies with the 2nd rather than with the 3rd Reich were already planning plots to overthrow the Fuhrer as his ambitious "lightning war has failed": most of the heavy losses weren't suffered by Poland, and even them, their future was uncertain so far. With the coming of the Winter, Germany would finally be forced to halt most of their failed offensive, but while the Winter went on, more Panzers would be manufactured, more soldiers be trained and the numerical superiority of the Wehrmacht over the Polish Home Army would only increase.

In 26th of October, Przemysl is at last secured, and for now, any attempts of the Germans to take opportunity strikes at the south have been contained, although, seeing the competence of the Cloaked Figure leading the invasion, it was unlikely they would succeed.

A foiled counter-offensive is held. The outside of the bloody no man's land of Radom, the war seems to be going in a standstill, which could as well become like the standstill that happened during the previous World War. Something which couldn't be allowed to happen. Poland would never achieve victory in a war of attrition against Germany. However, such which could arguably be considered a good thing was only one of the problems on a greater strategic level.

Poland is running out of power.

: Look at what your policies have done! We are on the verge of losing this war because our ammunition factories will run out of power! You have allowed for the enemy to take our most important coal mines! You have failed!

: Marshall Rydz-Smygli, what day is today?

: 26th of October

: Had Poland been under your command, we would have lost this war twenty days ago.

: How can you claim that? You are not God!

: You pretend to be blind to the scenario: do you think Poland would have survived for long if our men remained completely on the defensive by the outset of this war? Haven't I shown you how Poland would have been defeated already if we followed your policies? The entire German strategy for invading our nation was planned expecting us to exactly sit in trenches and do nothing besides defending, but we surprised them and have fared excellently considering the facts there are almost two German soldiers for every one of ours, and that their army is technologically ahead of ours.

: Forget it.

: TRAITOR! You are a Traitor! How do you dare to make deals with the Satanic forces of child-eating Communism?

: If the commies are stupid enough to do things that'll reduce their chances of getting their share of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, who am I to stop them? Would you rather we lose this war "out of principle" by refusing to avoid the total collapse of our nation by importing coal from the Soviet Union?

: Coal mined by slaves of the Communist demons! You are fueling our war against tyranny with the works of tyranny! This is absurd!

: Do you think that if we manage to turn the tide of this war, we are just going to sit down in our border with the Soviet Union and watch as they build an army of half dozen million soldiers to invade us while they murder dozens of millions in their Gulags in Siberia? But that is not something to worry about now. We still have some mobility to take the initiative for now, but it's clear this war will end in as standstill.

And thus, for a change the Jerries always left one area poorly defended while concentrating way too much forces in other areas that failed continually to make a significant breakthrough. Another diversionary attack is launched.

At the end of October, the mobile forces of Poland finally arrive in Radom, as a chilling and shivering cold breeze comes from the east: Winter is soon to arrive. Another bloody engagement occurs in Radom.

And this time, there is something very relevant about the conflict, as once again, one of the greatest German generals of all time is sent to lead the battle. A battle which once again seems to be against Poland.

Mannstein skill can be demonstrated by the number of battles shown that forces under his command ever lost. Despite their technologically inferior infantry, horse-carried anti-tank infantry and the lone Polish motorized infantry and armored divisions stood bravely in Radom.

"No Man's Land is pocketmarked like the body of foulest disease
and its odour is the breath of cancer...
No Man's Land under snow is like the face of the moon,
chaotic, crater-ridden, uninhabitable, awful, the abode of madness.

Hideous landscapes, vile noises....everything unnatural, broken,
blastered; the distortion of the dead, whose unburiable bodies
sit outside the dug-outs all day, all night, the most execrable sights on earth." - Wilfred Owen

The battle of Radom was almost reaching the Battle of Passchendaele in its length. Constant retreats and reorganized offensives, and no side seemingly managing to hold it for much long. Such battle could perhaps be a preparation for the daring claim of WhiskeyWolf that "Should Poland win this war, we will not sit and wait while the Soviets amass a Zerg Rush to invade us", for perhaps, the New Polish Democratic Republic shall yet stand to the gates of Stalingrad, or perhaps, it shall never stand up again. For history was being rewritten in blood, and if the trend continued, although civilian deaths during this time line could be far smaller, the military deaths could skyrocket compared to how they went before a few men decided to come back in time to attempt changing history.

: No retreat! Fight for as long as you can! This is a direct order and you are a traitor, WhiskeyWolf! I should have you executed.

: A pity being a failure isn't treason, look at how your plan will succeed. Mobile forces are supposed to always be moving you idiot! They aren't supposed to be focused on defense. I just ordered them to Radom to prepare them for an offensive that will finish this bloody battle for once and all.

: You are crazy! How can you think on doing an offensive on the winter!

: Do you know how many divisions Germany could get ready after the end of this winter, next year? The more we achieve now, the better.

As everything that Rydz-Smigli claims that will succeed, holding Radom through the end has failed... the situation however, would be far worse than one could imagined because of that. On 3rd of November, one of the most crucial battles, a battle that could end this war right now, has happened. Three up-to-date Panzer divisions led by Mannstein advanced against the city of Warsaw... and there was only one division to defend it: a division of outdated TK-S tanks.

The battle of Warsaw was one of the few urban battles involving mostly tanks in history.

For each outdated Polish tank, there were three Panzers. If Poland lost this battle, the Soviets could feel things were going well enough to start their opportunistic invasion and doom Poland to defeat as they would never stand against both Soviet Union and Germany.

However, as the battle raged on, it was becoming clear that tanks alone couldn't take a city, even if they outnumbered its defenders at 3:1. However, such fact was only made by one of the most ingenious uses of tanks for urban defense in history. Aware of the situation, WhiskeyWolf, being someone from a distant future, decided to take some actions that would be displeasing for some.

Without any infantry divisions, and as tanks alone couldn't defend a city, WhiskeyWolf established the first Women's Militia of Poland, led by Captain Raginis, the same who, in another timeline, swear for his life to defend Wizna to the last man despite being severely outnumbered. And for some reason, it worked far better than expected. Although of course without the brave male drivers of the TK-S tanks, it would never have worked. Due to his competence, captain Raginis was transferred to lead one of the battalions of TK-Ses.

After the battle ended, the Women's Militia was disbanded and they returned to the peace of their kitchen ovens and sinks to make food, wash clothes and clean dishes for the brave men who fought along the front.

The Polish mobile army succeeds in its retreat to Warsaw. However, the enemy seems to be heading to Lublin according to gathered intelligence.

A small recon team is sent to identify how many German divisions are in Lodz. Considering the fact the Polish divisions were still reorganizing and the fact they'd have to cross the Vistula river to attack, it has been decided to not go any further than a reconaissance. Meanwhile, plans were being made to retake Radom.

Operation Being as Awesome as Finland

Operation Being as Awesome as Finland was the name of a series of planned moves during the coming of Winter. Nobody understood why WhiskeyWolf named it like that, although later on they may yet understand, or not. The goal of the operation was to gain as much territory during the winter as possible, through the exploitation of the German dumbfuckery. Starting with the finalization of the bloody battle of Radom, now one month and one week old.

The offensive is launched in six of November, as it's noticed that despite their superior blitzkrieg doctrines, the overall organization of troops is far lower than that of the Polish forces, making of it a battle where the victor is obvious, unless reinforcements arrive first. A secondary goal was to encircle and defeat enemy troops that could arrived in Lublin.

The price Germany was paying in their attempt to conquer Poland would have another increase soon. Foolishly panzers arrived in Lublin, while our victory in Radom occurred.

One more diversionary offensive. Occupying Slovakia would be foolish as Poland didn't have enough forces to overstretch them through a larger front line.

The brave crews of TK-S tanks secure Radom, now it's a matter of time before encircling even more German divisions become possible.

Radom, Kielce and the Mannerh- WhiskeyWolf Line

Three divisions launch a counter offensive against them. An even bloodier battle amidst the chilling cold of the winter happen.

However, finally the Germans decided to strike further to the south, where Winter didn't arrive yet. The forests of Kielce would soon become the ground of a new starting battle, one of the greatest Winter Battles of this war. The Battle of Kielce.

However, winter, forest, infantry divisions defeating armored forces without dedicated anti-tank artillery and encirclement and splitting of numerically superior forces at both tactical and strategic levels sound familiar, very familiar.

Through the now frozen plains of Radom, despite outnumbered, the Polish defenders resisted. Plans were traced for diversionary flanking attacks as well to relieve the brave defenders of Kielce. The lone panzer divisions bravely stood against superior numbers while the less organized and technologically behind men in Kielce resisted. And no matter how hopeless it seemed to continue fighting, they didn't give up.

Final German Assault in Radom

And thus, after one last, massive assault attempt by the enemy to break the line before the Polish reinforcements arrived, the Battle of Radom was finally over, after having led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, making of Radom the territory with the greatest amount of Aryan blood on Earth. Not even the terrible flamethrower Panzers were enough.

On the other hand, things seemed worse at Kielce.

Seemed worse. As once again, the brave Polish soldiers, thanks to the helpful flanking diversionary strike, managed to hold their ground in slightly even numbers against a technologically superior force.

And thus a new offensive is launched to force two cut off German divisions into surrendering or dying to their last man, to finish the beginning of Operation Being as Awesome as Finland.

Two less divisions for Germany. Unfortunately, it would be necessary to encircle ridiculous numbers of them to make their overall numbers decrease each number, unless the gathered intelligence data about the strength of the Heer is a huge fraud.

The total German losses so far account to about twelve divisions, or about two hundred forty thousand men who either fought to their last or surrendered, plus their losses in battles where they had somewhere to retreat, from which some have been extremely heavy. Although it may seem little, it accounts to nearly a tenth of the entire strength of the German Army, and to an eight of the starting German Army at the beginning of the war.

The winter is coming to its fullest. Very few regions are not yet covered by snow in Poland. The Germans will either cancel their offensives, or perhaps launch one last desperate attempt to make at least one more gain.

A poorly organized offensive is launched at Radom, and now officially, this is the end of the Battle of Radom, which lasted almost as much as the battle of Passchendaele and could have lasted even more were it not for the winter. Those who gave their lives for the continuity sovereignty and liberty of Poland during these dark times shall never be forgotten.

Their graves buried under the same ice that has been bathed by German blood, their names to be forever inscribe in a future, monolithic monument, should Poland survive as a free, independent and sovereign nation, as the only democracy of Eastern, or Central Europe as some prefer, to stand against fascism.

Unfortunately, however, the Battle of Kielce is far from over, despite the victory of Poland during the first, failed offensive at Kielce. The Germans putted everything at the only Polish-controlled territory of their front line that wasn't covered by snow.

And for the first time in this conflict, Polish soldiers manage to stand bravely against two massed offensives, holding their ground. The second battle of Kielce ends with yet another Polish victory, as Germany begins to clearly suffer the same ill fate of the First World War.

Something must be wrong, but it's not a bad idea to try...

Of course, a expedient retreat avoided it just in time. There were other worrying matters, however.

The numbers of the Heer, according to the sketchy Intelligence, continued increasing dramatically. Now, as the snow fell over Poland, as brave men stood outnumbered to defend Warsaw and to achieve the decisive victory in the Battle of Radom, as the TK-S crews proved themselves to be the Canadian Shock Corps of Poland to finish for once and all one of the bloodiest battles for Poland, the situation continued to aggravate.

For despite all its failures, despite all the humiliations Germany took from Poland, Hitler wasn't ousted from power yet, and the situation continued precarious, in the long term, for Poland. As the night of 10th of November came, meanwhile, preparations were being settled in Warsaw to celebrate the Independence Day of Poland, 11th of November, for no matter how bleak the situation, the spirit of Poland was still strong, and their people, their families, would still stand the suffering of the war and the losses of their loved ones.

This Independence Day would be as much of a celebration as a mourning, a mourning for the more than one hundred thousand brave Polish who gave their lives for their nation, mourning for the Jews who were killed during the brief occupation of Warsaw, and for the Jews who were killed in the western territories of Poland occupied by Germany, for after recovering Warsaw, and after some interrogations with the help of a very inquisitive Rabbi, one who was extremely able to get what he needed from the Nazi prisoners of war:

Poland discovered the full extent of the "Final Solution to the Jewish" question from captured German PoWs, and with newspapers openly publishing it, many among the Jewish population of Poland began to flock at recruiting stations, as they realized that there was more at stake than the survival of Poland. The very survival of the Jewish Poles was at stake. Perhaps the fact many bankers across the world who loaned to governments of many countries were Jew could serve to push certain countries to act more actively instead of sitting in the Maginot Line, but considering the fame of the French, it was not much to expect for. Since Napoleon was gone, France no longer became known for its military brilliance.

However, after so many months defending their native land, it was becoming increasingly clear that now, Poland would fight to their last able-bodied man.

Will Operation Being as Awesome as Finland succeed? Will Poland survive to see the Independence Day of 1940? Will the Germans attempt another attack against Kielce after two failed attacks? Will the Heer outnumber the Polish Home Army at 4:1 by the beginning of the spring of 1940? Will the Lithuanian Hitman meet Stauffenberg and the old German 2nd Reich supporters and manage to assassinate Hitler to cause a major disorganization of the enemy forces at the front or even a German Civil War that could turn definitively the tide of war and stop the standstill it's becoming in favor of Poland? Will Poland still have enough manpower to continue fighting after the end of 1940?

Many questions to yet be answered, but so far, the answers have been far more positive for Poland than they have been before the time travelers intervened.

-----

I had to borrow those pics from that other LP, they were just too awesome.

Also, I have more 33 pics regarding the advance till the end of November. I'll post them in a separate update.

Finally, for those who bother with alternate history. What would have happened in Germany regarding loyalty if the Invasion of Poland became another WW1 trench warfare and failed to achieve its planned goals, coupled with the loss of East Prussia and of 12 divisions? Would this be enough to trigger an early, far widely supported kind of Operation Valkyrie? Or would that only happen if they failed enough to have the Polish Army at the doorsteps of Berlin?

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

...being as Awesome as This Update.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yes. Heer had plans for an early assasination & coup during late '39, because most German generals thought that Allies would come with full force and that capturing Poland quickly enough would be impossible.

So yes, by your in-game date, Prussian military elite would act.

Oh and final solution for Jews was decided on summer of 1941 but what the hell

Also, <3 Being as Awesome as Finland

 

[Cassidy]

Yes. Heer had plans for an early assasination & coup during late '39, because most German generals thought that Allies would come with full force and that capturing Poland quickly enough would be impossible.

So yes, by your in-game date, Prussian military elite would act.

I'll consider the "German generals thought that Allies would come with full force"

But I won't start the game with UK, use transports to send 20 divisions to Poland, then pick France and send more 20 divisions and give them to Poland as expeditionary forces. That would make things too easy (It's possible to annex Germany in the Spring of 1940 in the Poland 1936 scenario)

However, I'm not sure how much % of dissent hit from something like an assassination against Hitler and the split between the "Only the Kaiser could fix this shit now" and "Sieg Heil" factions would be fair enough rather than blatant cheating. I'm taking something between 15 and 40%, which would give significant enough combat and IC penalties to Germany.

Funnily, on Mod 33, if you take an ahistorical approach and restore the old German Empire, the events will lead Germany to manage to isolate Poland diplomatically through wondrous realpolitik after an event where the Kaiser states a non-aggression pact with Poland will be signed if they cede Danzig to Germany. And even better, you have Albert Einstein and other awesome Jewish scientists among your tech teams. I played a quite bizarre game with the restored German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm III where the Bourbons returned to France and France had the Anchluss of Belgium.

--------

Winter War Part 2: Kill-elce

German forces are growing at every month, while the winter comes, and even through the cold ice, the battles continue while a few brave soldiers die of cold and the Nazi swines die of flu.

For the third time, the Germans launch a failed offensive against Kielce. Failed offensive. This definitively goes against everything that the Blitzkrieg is supposed to be achieve. Of course, the blitzkrieg was developed to exploit the strategic mindset of the Great War, and Poland definitively was no longer using Great War trench warfare in a strategic level, even if tactically, they still followed similar doctrines.

With the end of the Battle of Radom as a Polish Victory, it was clear that the woods of Kielce would become the next target of German aggression. And unfortunately, the brave men defending it were weary and disorganized after so many brutal battles, the situation was deteriorating, but Kielce would not be lost. It could not be lost. It was one of the two only viable territories Poland had that allowed them to launch a sizable counter-offensive, for although the territories east of the Vistula were easier to defend, equally, it would be far more difficult to attack from them, while moving through Slovakia would thin the defenses along the front. However, the fact the incredibly smart German generals didn't wait for the morning to attack would prove critical.

Having stood against two consecutive strikes in Poland's independence day has served as a major morale booster for the brave soldiers in Kielce. The Polish flag, despite tattered by the conflict, was still proudly hanging from the tallest hill, for everyone to see. In Warsaw, people gathered to remember of the hardships they had to stand to make of their nation a sovereign nation, from the past and from now. For some reason, snow hasn't fallen over Warsaw yet, allowing for the celebration to be far more long-lasting.

However, there was little time to celebrate for the brave soldiers in Kielce. The bloody battle was far from over as the thick-headed German command didn't thought on any other way to break through than launching night attacks against Kielce.

However, this time, the situation was worsening. Perhaps the MP overlooked way too much the Polish soldiers who celebrated their Independence Day drinking vodka, which is a drink originated from Poland, not from the damn child-eating Soviets. The battle was reaching a critical stage, the German aggression greater than anything seen before.

The intense shelling left many buildings in ruins amidst the woods, buildings used as defensive posts. After the bloodbath of Radom, another bloodbath seemed to be about to begin.

In one more hope to ensure Kielce will stand without the need of another bloody battle with counter-offensives, a diversionary flanking strike is launched against German troops in Krakow.

And a second diversionary flanking strike is launched against Czestochowa as well.

After twenty-four hours of battle, the brave Polish soldiers at Kielce are on the verge of being forced to retreat, while the two simultaneous offensives continue against the two areas from where German soldiers are attacking Kielce. The diversionary battle happening in the hills and mountains of Krakow is bloodiest battle among them.

Unfortunately, it has not been enough.

At the nine of morning of 13th of November, after nearly two days of battle, the Polish soldiers defending Kielce were forced to retreat, which in turn implies that once again, the price for securing the future of Poland as a sovereign nation will have to be paid in much blood.

: We should move one of the divisions at Przemysl to avoid a breakthrough. Now!

: ORLY? And, what the hell are our enemies doing by flying transport planes without escort and without paratroopers? I heard our pilots are liking the target practice.

: They think we don't have an air force and have shown other forms of stupidity, which is the only reason you didn't fail in your defense of Poland so far.

: Finally you said something I can partially agree with. Launching Operation Kielce Rangers are as Awesome as Texas Rangers

: *too afraid to speak against it*

Operation Kielce Rangers are as Awesome as Texas Rangers

A three-pronged counter-offensive is launched to retake Kielce. Sperheaded by the strong and mighty Tyrolese Jew Mountaineers and by the mighty of the Polish Sturmpanzers called TK-S.

The battle-weary Germans stand little chance if they remain outnumbered, for thanks to the geniality of Polish generals, they have always managed to outnumber Germans at most of their offensives even if strategically, the Germans outnumbered the total numbers of the Polish forces.

The Kielce Rangers began to kick ass... Wait, that pic isn't right at all, it's completely against historical accuracy! But how can one moan over historical accuracy while Poland kicks German ass? Iit's too awesome, and a good reminder of what will be the most powerful unit in the future Polish Cavalry forces in the next decades, besides their glorious M113 Gavin Airborne Cavalry Vehicles imported from the United States if Poland survives that far.

The Kielce Rangers prove their worth. Meanwhile in Texas, the first kingcomrade is born. As for how this fact will have any relevance, that is yet to be seem. Six of every ten Texans wrote kingcomrade as Time Magazine made a poll with the Americans about whether they thought Poland would survive or not.

: Wait, are still people who think peace is the way to settle this? What the hell are they thinking? This is not Woodstock! This is Poland!

: Finally you said something I completely agree with, kick those pacifists out of the government because they are traitors! But what is Woodstock?

: Forget about it, sorry. You wouldn't understand it anyway.

: So, your Operation with yet another nonsense name is going on. Wait a minute! You should wait for the rainfall to end before you attack! Are you crazy?

: Better rainfall than twice more Germans to expel from Kielce. We cannot lose our momentum and winter is coming sooner or later. We must achieve victory, we must cherish and make sacrifices for victory, we must

The scale of the attack made the battle even more bloody. Behind every tree, a German or a multiheaded dick could be in hiding, although fortunately, the latter was never encountered. And despite the difficulties, despite the losses, Poland had enough to take it.

Meanwhile, general Cloaked Figure would soon beat his record in doing incredibly stupid things, things like.

Sending a garrison to Lublin, which couldn't be attacked right away as the Polish soldiers were regrouping but, unless strategic redeployment happened, it would be yet another entire German division lost.

However, the Battle of Kielce was far from over.

And as of now, Poland must win or stand forth in this war with what is currently available. With the loss of Krakow, with the constant reinforcements to avoid the existing forces to be drained, there is little hope of building more infantry divisions unless the conflict ends in a standstill. And even then, by the time they are trained, the outcome of war would already be defined. At least the Polish industry still have enough surplus to deal with the needs of our army, while Warsaw factories are still being rebuilt and will eventually give a further boost in such capabilities.

Meanwhile.

Another daring diversionary attack is launched against the frozen woods of Kosice. Despite the poor organization of Polish troops.

Victory is achieved in Kosice while once again, the Luftwaffe serves as nothing other than target practice for the Polish interceptors. It's starting to become a running gag in this conflict, the Germans sending defenseless airplanes without any escort or apparent purpose to be downed.

: Stop this madness now! We can't win a battle against technologically superior Germans who strategically outnumber us as a whole, in a frozen forest and most of our forces having to cross the Vistula river without engineer brigades to support them!

: Yes, we cannot achieve that together, but I can. It's time to change our ways, to learn from our enemies.

And thus, many Polish soldiers cross through the freezing waters of the Vistula, as they prepared for a bloody battle through the winter forest. The first wave of German defenders was forced to retreat by their courage, thanks to the support of the Kielce Rangers and Tyrolese Jew Mountaineers.

And in the second wave of defenders, once again, the brave Polish soldiers face the feared panzer corps of the greatest enemy general. Mannstein puts a valiant, seemingly unbreakable elastic defense line across the forest, despite the superior numbers of Polish soldiers, supported by winter, and by

Additional reinforcements, as the battle seem to be far from over yet during the cold night. Tracer ammunition flies over the forests, with enough lightning to make the Polish equivalents of rednecks think the end is coming.

However, not even the tactical competence of von Mannstein can fix the strategic dumbfuckery of the commander of the Heer, Cloaked Figure. Although he fought bravely despite outnumbered, eventually, even if the Germans were tactically and logistically superior, the strategic superiority of Poland in warfare was showing once again.

The priorities are reshuffled. The six divisions in Zamosc stop their advance as to allow their reorganization as new divisions from the two other territories advance. Hopefully, this way, more outnumbered German forces will be sent into the fray to be forced into retreat before Kielce is secured.

Another air battle, another proof that it does not matter how much shiny up-to-date airplanes you have when your command is made of dumbfucks. Coupled with the fact the garrison in Lublin was finally finished as its soldiers either surrendered or died, and now German losses accounted to 13 divisions.

: I believe that if we play our cards right, we may yet recover Danzig. Look at how they loosened their defenses around it, Danzig would allow some interesting offensive maneuvers, and is a far better point to advance upon than the central front or the southern front.

: River crossing and snow. It would be a perfectly successful offensive, indeed.

: I have planned ahead. I have the right man to liberate Danzig. But we must first stabilize our front at the center and secure Kielce.

Another wave, which barely reorganized themselves from their last retreat. The Germans seem way too thickheaded. And wave after wave, the enemy continues following the trend.

Meanwhile, in Germany....

Operation Epic Fail of Valkyrie Profile

: The Allies, they will use the winter to ship their forces to Poland through Konigsberg. It's clear that Hitler failed all of us, it's clear that he now is putting our country on the verge of defeat. Poland would gain the upper hand once the Allies mobilize their forces.

: Indeed, it is a pity that your country has been completely ruined by the works of a madman, Colonel von Stauffenberg. I suppose that you have hopes for rectifying the situation.

: After the Fuhrer gave full authority to his protege and devout followed Cloaked Figure, and after his failures, I am not certain, but I believe most of the Heer would be ready to get further on, provided one thing: that Cloaked Figure is discovered as the responsible for Hitler's assassination, we must be steadyfast in this operation.

: [Persuade] Worry not, you can trust me to succeed at this. However, once the Nazi Party is ousted, what are your plans if I may ask.

: [Success] It'll depend on how the war goes on. Now, why did you choose Christmas as the day for this Operation, Lithuanian Hitman?

: [Persuade] Because I think my "work" would be more appreciated as a Christmas gift.

: [Failure] A gift is something given without a fee for it. You can't mean it is a Christmas gift for the people of Germany, or are you just choosing the date for the ironic flavor? I don't like it, because I am a Christian.

: [Persuade] I only said it would be more appreciated as a Christmas gift, not who would appreciate it.

: [Success] And who would appreciate it?

: [Bluff] The German people of course, they aren't paying for this from their own pockets, so it's a gift for them.

: [Success] I see, now, excuse me mister, what is your name?

: Like I said, just call me Lithuanian Hitman. I see you have to leave. Farewell.

: I hope to get the news by 25th of December. Now I must go to another Nuremberg rally, to keep the facade. Farewell.

And so... by the cosmic works of the universe

Back to Poland...

Our next advancement in Infantry-centric tactical doctrines is nearing completion. After it, we will be able to take the most powerful tactical doctrines we have skilled enough strategist and tacticians to develop: the Infiltration Assault and its subsequent evolution, which shall give to the Polish Soldiers incredible night combat capabilities, coupled with conceptual researches over a "night vision" system that are far from being developed yet.

The current president of Poland. In another time line, he has been the leader of the Polish Underground Forces before the Warsaw Uprising. It was up to him to lead the nation through these dark times, where the future of Poland seemed bleak. In a recent interview, he, among an inspiring speech to the people of Poland, stated:

"Though the storm clouds of tyranny have fallen over the nations of East and West, we
are not without hope. The same God that has watched over all the world in times to
come. The same God that lead the Israelites from bondage and our people to freedom,
watches over us still, and will lead us through these dark days. And we will prevail, no
matter the time, no matter the cost, for if we do not, we will for all time, pay a cost
beyond all measure."

The first year of the Second World War was about to end. Poland lost much of their able-bodied man already, but the Germans lost even more of theirs. More than one hundred thousand Poles gave their lives for their nation, while taking at least three Nazis for every one of them who fell. The total death toll of this conflict now surpassed half million of dead soldiers.

Will the deaths of the many who fought for Poland not be in vain? Will the Lithuanian Hitman enter in history by killing Hitler in the Christmas of 1939? Will Operation Epic Fail of Valkyrie Profile succeed? Will Stauffenberg never wear an eyepatch now and look less like a cliché Nazi villain from Indiana Jones? Will Kielce be secured by the Polish soldiers moving towards it?

 

[GarfunkeL]

Historically, any early assasination attempt on Hitler would probably have backfired - the Prussian elite did not seem to understand how popular Hitler actually was. Wehrmacht itself was divided on the issue. Of course, the early victories shut dissidents up.

But in here, with the war horribly bogged down, East Prussia lost and terrible bleeding of manpower - well, Goebbels was good but he wasn't miracle maker. Quite a big dissent hit would still be suitable, since the Reich would delve into infighting. Anyway, congrats for your excellent performance so far, even though the AI does make its best to help you.

 

[LusciousPear]

This is so compelling that I read it all, even with a migrane.

EPIC. MOAR.

 

[Cassidy]

Unfortunately, the save games were totally lost.

Fortunately, I'm going to try this again despite that, but this time with either Modern Day Scenario 2 1.5 or with Mod34 1938 Scenario(as a direct remake of the last one), depending on whichever you choose.

The Modern Day Scenario will have less of a challenge, but on the other hand, trying to build a modern Polish Empire can lead this Let's Play to something like a speculation on "How was Poland in the canon Fallout Universe?", because MDS has a nuclear retalation chain of events, and when any nuclear power is about to be defeated, it'll most likely send the country you're playing into nuclear Oblivion.

However, I'd personally prefer Mod34 1938 Scenario. Mod34 has a redesigned tech tree without researching ahead of time penalties, but a huge complexity, allowing for total specialization, but also making the technological advantages of major powers even more significant. And finally, from playing it, its AI is usually far more competent than that of most mods and vanilla HoI2. In other words, it'd be even tougher.

Your call.

 

[Yeesh]

Mod34! Mod34!

 

[Cassidy]

Fortunately, I managed to recover those lost save games so I won't have to start this LP from scratch.

France is useless.

Fixed.

Finally, I don't know what you think about the music in the link, but considering it is the only music about Poland in WW2 that I know of, it'll be the soundtrack for this Let's Play thread:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoQj8GGHNxU

----

Winter War Part 3: The Sitzkrieg and the Fallen Dragon

The meatgrinder of Kielce, was on one hand, convenient, however, it couldn't last forever. And eventually, it would drain Poland of all her able-bodied man before Germany was drained of hers, and provoke defeat. Thus, to ensure all the effort and sacrifice done for Kielce wouldn't be in vain, it had to be secured.

However, by December 2nd, most units, unlike Sikorski's (Who might in the near future, if Poland survives, lead a truly awesome kind of Cavalry), are mostly disorganized by the offensives. And thus, the game of knowing the right time to attack begins. If the final offensive against Kielce is launched too earlier, it will fail, and if it is launched to late, the Jerries will secure it definitively, putting all the deaths of brave Polish men in vain. Regardless, seeing the strategic whole implied that, most likely, Kielce would be the last ground to gain during Winter. All other possibilities were flickle and unlikely unless the Germans did something really stupid. And with their growing numbers, it was unlikely any exploit would be open that could be used without risking the stability of the front lines.

: Now that was unexpected.

: Canadian aid? Why don't they send their men to our trenches?

: Not even Great Britain did, and the French, they are French.

: What's the matter about Lithuania?

: After that faggotry you just did, you even bother asking me? You heard the rumors, didn't you?

: That there are groups staging a coup in Germany. What difference will that make? Whoever gets in power will still have our country in the "World Conquest" checklist.

: And surely, a Civil War would have no influence in our war efforts, right?

: Damn you. So, is this your doing? Are you betraying us by conspiring with enemies of ours just because they are also enemies of our current enemy?

: What the fuck? You can't talk about betrayal after that faggotry of yours ruining Poland's and Lithuania's image! Now stop whining like a fag and listen!

: Danzig may be open for the taking. But I'd not put my chances, once we secure Kielce, we will need every man to hold what we secured.

: Finally, you are talking my language.

: No, you are wrong. Let me finish. We must also not be limited by arbitary natural defenses that would bolster our defensive capability but render our armies totally unable to strike back, we will hold on both Radom and Kielce for the rest of the Winter, and hopefully catch the Krautz by surprise, or pray that snowfall stops at their side of the front first, giving us a narrow window of opportunity.

: Not very hopeful.

: Until those idiotic allies finally send their men through our captured port in Konigsberg, that's the best we can do.

: Or launch an all-out assault against By*****cz

: Why are you repeating the same thing over and over?

: WHICH IS BETTER: INVADE BY*****CZ OR HOLD THE GROUND UNTIL SUMMER? DISCUSS!!!!!!

: This sounds familiar. I remember the trolling about how it's impossible to totally avoid war in World War 1 and 2 from the same source.

: What? Hey! I think I know...

: What?

: Don't forget your promise to liberate Iran from the clutches of tyranny!

: What the fuck are you getting into? Making promises to invade foreign countries over cheap excuses? Are you mad?

: The allies are just trying to pretend they care about us. And considering the face of the new P.M., I have a set mind about what to do next, if we survive this war.

: What the hell? To betray the Allies? Are you mad? The child-eating monsters border us!

: Convenient fact, considering that if we manage to get all of them to our borders, every territory they liberate from the butcher Stalin will become under our control. One threat or traitor at a time, I say. But now we should focus on current matters.

: If we had Kielce now, we could have a chance to liberate Krakow, but I doubt we'd have spare men to hold it anyway. Our army is preparing for the final battle of Kielce, as of now.

: What? Everything is ready! Send your men right now to take it or we'll lose it forever! Do it! Do it!

: Sorry, but I only do real women.

: Now shut the fuck up, you humiliating Weeabo tranny representation of glorious Poland! Before you give a pretext for another cheap pun!

: ^_^

: Enough of this shit! Enough! *Grabs collar*

: What happened?

: Something that should have happened earlier. Finally that Anime bull is over. Only enemies deserve it. Now this is why we can't have nice things.

: And furfaggotry as well. Featherfaggotry, to be more specific. I heard Disney is gay, am I right?

: I don't know, I never met him personally.

: Nevermind, now it seems we have wasted enough time talking. Justice has been done to Poland's honor as now only Nazis will be humiliated by anime faggotry.

: I have no idea what you are talking about. And you got me in charge of that Headquarters right?

: Yes, what about it?

: Were it not my logistics and communications expertise, those massed assaults that you performed would never be successful and sufficiently organize.

: But anyone could do that!

: The younger officers have yet potential to develop, and lack my patience to handle the administrative matters and the bureaucracy, I've been through my best times during the Polish-Soviet war, and if we survive this, I'm going to retire in one decade from now. Now, you wouldn't put your best and youngest men to handle communications and logistics only, right?

: What has changed about you? I just ended that faggotry and finally you speak something that makes sense! But wait one moment, I don't like all of this. Not at all.


The Decisive Battle of Kielce

The most important battle of Kielce, that would settle the matter for several months to come, began in December 6th. Despite the deadly winter, the Polish Army marched on, aware of what was at stake. This battle would mean either that Poland would have an extra window of opportunity once Winter ends or end closer to damnation. Such victory would buy time for Poland, a very precious commodity.

However, as the battle raged on, things happened, deep inside the heart of enemy territory...

: Hitler failed us in Kielce. He failed us more and more. The Allies will land in Poland before winter ends, I am sure of it, and it seems very unlikely any breakthrough will be made before that.

: I am ready to go on with Operation Fail of the Valkyrie Profile

: Damn it, Lose-Lose situation. I'll have to switch back.

: What do you mean? Switch back what?

: What happened?

: We succeeded in driving back the Germans from Kielce, but I suggest we wait more before launching the final offensive.

: We should attack Kielce now! And also launch a simultaneous offensive against By*****cz

: No way! Stop!

: Blizzard sucks.

: Two days of continuous fighting, but we can't give up on driving them back lest they solidify their presence in Kielce.

: WoW and Blizzard really sucks!

: Your cheap puns are getting out of control! Stop this! And besides, look at the manpower losses of the enemy! We are slaughtering them because of their stubborness in not retreating!

Battle of Kielce during the terrible Blizzard ripping off others

: ffffffffffffffffffff

Nearest city during the prolonged conflict. Many were getting sick due to the intense, unforgiving cold.

As the battle raged on, a Captain Named Raginis Kingcomrade would become a shining star of hope, leading his men through the harshest conditions with enough gut to withstand the cold and enough canned spam to survive for days without a constant influx of supplies.

Eventually, the cold became so intense that both German and Polish guns and artillery jammed, and then, one of the most epic final engagements ever happened, in the old ways of melee combat, giving closure to such an epic struggle as men clashed bayonets, swords and whatever they could stab each other with.

: Why do you commit treason once again?

: Is securing the continued survival of Poland treason? Get real.

Nothing to add here.

13th of December would be a tragic day for all free nations of the world.

The day China has fallen to the raping behemoth.

: One day I shall avenge Poland's Honor and the Chinese! One day I shall enact the laws that forbid representing any nation as a faggot anime character in Japan! Once I conquer it!

: What? This makes no sense.

: You'll leave me in peace as well, because then you'll no longer exist.

: Impossible! This is madness!

: Madness? This is POLAND!

And thus, the most decisive battle was won in Kielce.

: Wait, where is the time line here? How is an earlier event happening after an older one?

: Dull events shouldn't be savoured, epic ones should be kept for the best time to see them.

Then, suddenly France surrenders their technology to Poland. Nobody cares as there are greater worries and right now, it's not going to make much of a difference.

: Now, Operation Gaylord commences.

Operation Gaylord

Operation Gaylord was the name given to the last offensive to retake Kielce, it would be an all-or-nothing.

As expected, soon Germans arrived to attempt foolishly holding their ground. Hopefully no sudden influx of 20 divisions would come to reinforce them, but as this never happened, it was unlikely it would.

: Now we can pre-plan defenses. That should be helpful.

: But it won't help us retake lost ground. Yet, Infiltration Assault would be too costly to research, and other more urgent priorities include manpower and our supply logistics that has to be improved.

At last, Kielce was retaken. The population cheered at the liberators, while the troops began to prepare for the counter-attack.

But nobody took it seriously. And they weren't wrong to do so. And thus, Operation Gaylord was a success.

Christmas 1939. A date of celebration, as Poland was a free nation, a nation which military strategy would be discussed for years to come, for, against all odds, Poland stood for four months, and counting, against the Nazi war machine. Yet a date of mourning for those who perished. Many families have suffered over countless deaths, and yet, there was hope. Those more devout believed the Nazis were armies of Satan, and messianism, due to the situation of Poland, was on the rise, as some claimed Poland was "Israel" from the book of Apocalypse, that would be invaded from all sides and yet succeed through divine intervention.

Of course, most people didn't take such claims seriously, and neither the Catholic Church did.

: I don't like the reports from the recon airplanes. I estimate there is a hundred plus of German divisions at our gates, a horde. We must be vigilant and not give any loopholes. Like Radom and Kielce, that have to be reinforced lest they defeat us.

There were good news, as finally Poland had enough industries to arm one infantry division, and eventually two. Although manpower was low, it was still a good idea to continue training more divisions in a limited pace, the only hope against defeat.

The news year's eve of 1940 was another holiday Poland celebrated as a sovereign nation, a sign of endurance, resistance and courage. For Poland finally would go through a new year. The year of 1940 was a challenging prospect. Surviving after the winter would be very difficult. It was necessary to do something more.

Regardless, Poland already became a beacon of hope for the democracies of the world. As the only democracy in Eastern(or Central) Europe, it struggled, and so far, survived. Such performance would probably deserve some justice, provided the, for now and hopefully forever alive and healthy Jews of Poland start a prosperous movie industry inside it.

Will the Lithuanian Hitman succeed at the approaching decisive moment for Poland's and Germany's future? Will Poland manage to survive past the winter? Will the Jerries try a desperate Winter Offensive? Those questions shall be yet answered.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

I love this LP.

 

[saenz]

Sweet Jesus I love this LP. Every update tempts me to give HoI2 another spin.