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

[Gold]

Taking back Europe is going to be a bitch.

 

[Infantryman]

You can try to land in Amsterdam from this second sea province west of Wadenzee.

 

[Cassidy]

Saving Private kingcomrade

Theme

After 11 hours of nonstop combat and continuous air support, the enemy POPAMOLES began to cede at Cherbourg. Amsterdam's situation, on the other hand, was much more complicated, and the Failure of the Free Market Garden 3 was definitively not doing well.

At 16:00 hours, 5th of June of 1944, the first major human victory in Europe happens as the defenders of Cherbourg are driven away, securing the port for almost a million of soldiers, and many more coming from the west as they tried to avoid the enemy massive carrier fleets. However, Cherbourg had to be expanded quickly, the enemy numbers were growing every day, and it was clear this conflict would not be easy. With Cherbourg secured, all bombers operating in the European Theater are sent to support the men in Amsterdam.

However, there was a bitter taste to this victory. Nobody was there to cheer the soldiers, to congratulate them for their victory, or to accuse them of being invaders. The entire landscape, the towns, the cities. Everything was completely swept from human life. It was an apocalyptic and depressing imagery to walk upon a long abandoned cafe scavenging for drinks, to see the ghost towns, dead. With the exceptions of a few pockets in the Balkans and in the most frozen corners of Siberia, humanity has been almost completely wiped out from the Old World. It was now bare, devoid of humanity, and would have it again only if people wished to migrate from Amerikwa to there, maybe to return to their birthplaces and mourn for all who died.

For one, the Poles were extremely hopeful for a chance of raising their flag once again in the city of Warsaw, a distant dream this first victory at Cherbourg was only a distant small step towards.

After the retreat, another amphibious operation commences, but before it could end it is immediately cancelled as the dreaded tripods are sighted treading over the beachheads. Then, the worst would once again come, but this time they were more prepared, expecting it.

How could the Air Marines in Amsterdam be relieved now, as in this 6th of June a massive alien fleet began to effectively blockade the English Channel? This could yet turn into a much greater disaster. Fortunately this time many ships would be able to retreat before the worst came.

Three days have passed since the beginning of D-Day, and Now Seville is secured, while a lone division moves to open the Mediterranean to the navies of humanity, allowing for more amphibious operations to rapidly establish a defensive line across the Pyrenees, hopefully blocking countless enemy divisions between the forces advancing through Northern Europe and there.

Once the landings are over in Cherbourg, bloody and massive battles begin to push the front forward, as the enemy tripods seem more and more numberful.

Herve Caen falls while the battle for Avrances procceeded. The tripod was a powerful machine of war indeed, and should never be underestimated. But the new armies of the UDMS-KKK, made by extremely expensive but much better trained soldiers than usual equipped with the latest anti-tank artillery systems and man-portable weapons, stood bravely in their offensive against this dreaded foe.

Avranches and Caen were secured for now, but the Battle of Amsterdam still was ongoing, now for near two consecutive days. While the Air Marines, not being godlike, were about to collapse from exhaustion after so much time fighting nonstop. Could the Air Marines be rescued? Could there still be hope for them while the enemy fleets ravaged the English Channel, turning it into the largest ship graveyard of the world?

Now two tripods attempt to hold Avranches. The offensive proceeds in spite of its brutality and of the level of casualties. The enemy must be defeated to ensure the continued survival of humanity. Smartly, the attackers set up an ambush, as millions of anti-tank weapons completely obliterate the first waves of tripods. While all of this happened, the brave Air Marines still haven't surrendered or given up in the growingly hopeless battle of Amsterdam. They couldn't be abandoned, there were few men as great as them in the world. There were at last some good news: the massive enemy fleets were lured away by the transports heading for northern Scandinavia, that was the window of opportunity to open a new front, and even rescue the Air Marines.

And thus it began. Ghent was left completely undefended by the enemy, now it was the time to take it, and use the transports to save the paratroopers as well.

Meanwhile, the brave unescorted transport ship captains attempted to do the impossible, and outrun the massive fleet behind them as they were soon to arrive at their two destinations, and begin the liberation of Scandinavia: a diversionary operation intended to draw enemies away from the main front of operations, like the ongoing Liberation of Africa.

Finally, however, after almost four days of continuous battles, the Air Marines retreated towards the transports preparing an amphibious operation against Ghent, but they would have little time to rest, as they would join the other tanks and soldiers landing upon those shores. Operation Failure of the Free Market Garden was a failture, but they had to open a second beachhead in Northern Europe. Hopefully no enemy would reach Ghent, for otherwise there would be much, much bloodshed. Private kingcomrade was saved, for now.

 

[LusciousPear]

Wow, AI got srsly butthurt there.

PROCEED

 

[Infantryman]

Looks like you have tough battles ahead of you. Good luck!

 

[Cassidy]

Through the gates of hell: the Battle for Ghent

Music

The landings against Ghent didn't end unanswered. Before the beachhead could be secured, a lone infantry division attacked against the shore. A bloody battle would thus begin as hundreds of thousands were about to land over the shores. Many would never step upon the land alive. The Baneblades were practically transformed into impromptu naval guns for the otherwise unarmed amphibious landing vessels where they were disembarked in face of the new threat.

The offensive against Avranches is blocked by a seemingly unbreakable wall of four tripod divisions. The situation is worsened, but there is hope they might succeed at breaking through this powerful line of defense yet. No sacrifices shall be spared in this bloody war for the liberation of Earth.

Meanwhile, with the help of air support, the lone division holding Ghent has its resistance broken at a great cost due to the amphibious nature of the attack, and is forced to retreat. However, it may not be over yet, for a new enemy division, or more, could arrive at Ghent before they could secure the region.

Gibraltar is secured. For the first time in five years, human ships shall cross the strait, heading deeper into Spain to open new beachheads, escorted by the submarine fleets of the UDMS-KKK.

The situation on the African front suddenly becomes more complicated, as the once completely unopposed advance through the heart of the dead continent is halted by tripods. The lone division fights bravely but they stood no chance, and are forced to retreat. Many divisions are still to be redeployed in this region, fortunately not after it becomes already too late to stop the threat of the thinly held African front lines being obliterated.

When even more reinforcements arrive to support the four tripods defending Avranches, the offensive is ordered to stop, and all forces fall back to defensive positions within Cherbourg. Caen has been secured, as many brave men struggle to hold the enemy counter-strike.

More enemy forces came to the beachheads. The second wave was also defeated, but casualties were piling up in the hundreds, Ghent still was not secured. This struggle would be forever remembered, together with all others of this fateful June of 1946.

Three highly advanced tank divisions then came to hold the beaches of Ghent, in Belgium, the land of incest and child-eating Jews. The battle would now become not impossible to win, but much more bloody than before.

After several more hours of blood bath the three tanks defending Ghent were driven back, and while the soldiers seeking to secure Ghent had a few moments of relief, an attack of Argentan, defended by Field Marshall Liberal with both conventional, power armor and tripod divisions, was ongoing.

The battle for Ghent however was far from over. The toll of blood to secure the Ghent was heavy, and were it not for the support from air and from the Baneblades, victory would be even more difficult. For four days already combats have been going on through the region. The soldiers would end losing their marbles as likely as their lives considering how long this battle was taking to be over. It was a horror of undescribable proportions. There was little glory to see friends die so quickly and oftenly and then live to regret being a hero rather than dying in battle. Even past legends and heroes like Charles White Wittlesey have lost their lives after the war, and found solace only in suicide, for the psychological traumas this conflict have brought were of a scale even greater than the genocide against the human race it caused.

While the advance on Argentan has failed, after near an entire week of continuous and extremely bloody battles for Ghent, the region was secured, at last. The first and hopefully last amphibious attack by the UDMS-KKK was over. However, the risk of the advance on Caen and Cherbourg being halted was too great. Where the enemy shifted its forces to defend Argentan, fortunately, it left a gap in the defense of Avranches. Even against two tripod and one POPAMOLE division, the new armies of the UDMS-KKK seemed to be prevailing.

But would they manage to push deeper within France? Would the Belgian government-in-exile agree to cede Ghent's control to the UDMS-KKK due to the logistical implications of their virtually annihilated country being completely unable to supply allied forces? Would the Tripod division in the Heart of Africa be successfully stopped? Will the UDMS-KKK one day have a chance to avenge the Kwanzanian Navy and obliterate the humongous carrier fleet of the xenos?

Many things could happen. Battles of a scale never seen since 1941 were already ongoing in this opening stage of the liberation of Europe, and were predicted to become tougher and more challenging the deeper they manage to advance.

 

[Gold]

Holy crap, you are about to run into your TC limit. That is going to make surrounding those Tripods a bitch soon.

Are you building IC in America?

 

[Cassidy]

Holy crap, you are about to run into your TC limit. That is going to make surrounding those Tripods a bitch soon.

Are you building IC in America?

Not really. there were like 60 divs being strategically redeployed while this happened.

 

[Gold]

Oh well that explains that. Is there a way to strategically redeploy without a garrison unit?

 

[Infantryman]

It's time to break out of the beachheads before you will be blocked by enormous stacks in all neighbouring provinces.



Also, why did the Belgium receive Ghent, while in France you took control of the captured areas?

Oh well that explains that. Is there a way to strategically redeploy without a garrison unit?

But of course.

 

[Cassidy]

I know this will be an even shorter update but I believed D-Day deserved to be more spread out through this thread, which is why.

The end of D-Day

While victory is secured in Avranches and Ghent, allowing for the forces to push further inland, the situation worsens in North Africa, and a tale of heroism begins. Thirty thousand men with anti-tank guns stood bravely, alone, against the deadly attack of a tripod division. Never in the history of the War of the Worlds there was any precedent of a battle at such odds ending in victory. But their bravery under heat ray fire was unparalled.

Against all odds, thus, the front lines at North Africa were secured. The bravery of these anti-tank crews and soldiers would be set as an example, and their names never be forgotten on the onset of victory over Gafsa. Alone they have emerged victorious against the dreaded tripod. The war was now reaching a new stage, where the enemy would be much more difficult to rout. Upon the completion of D-Day, the strategic situation was getting complex.

The enemy forces were far more numberful and powerful than expected within Northern Europe, however, they haven't completely blockaded the chances of breaking through, but at a great cost for every inch of land taken. On the other hand, there was a huge swath of undefended territory between the landings at Ghent and the landings at Normandy. That could serve well to the strategic objectives of the UDMS-KKK.

The liberation of Scandinavia was about to commence. The enemy have completely forsaken the region to apparently concentrate much of what they had against the other landings of D-Day. This would be a very convenient diversionary operation to draw enemies away.

It was now only a matter of time before the apparently undefended Pyrenees could be secured, isolating the apparently few enemy forces at Iberia. The enemy was indeed giving everything they had against the brave men who landed over Normandy, and forsaking other fronts in the meanwhile.

As most of the AfrikaKKKorps were redeployed to Spain, the strategic situation has become a little more complicated, specially with the coming of two tripods, but there was still a chance to advance, isolate and encircle these enemies. The advance through Africa was going at an incredibly sluggish rate due to horrible infrastructure and the heat of the deadly deserts. The race for Suez would not be given up.

And thus, the first direct consequences of D-Day were over. The enemy was hounding through Normandy, ignoring other fronts near completely, but perhaps, victory could still be ensued through all fronts. With more than a thousand of divisions at their hands however, defeating the alien would be a truly cyclopean effort, one where one wrong move could mean a military disaster.

The Battles for Amerikwa, Australia and Japan are over, the Battle for Africa has reached so far a favorable outcome for the UDMS-KKK. The Battle for Europe, expected to be the greatest theater and site of the bloodiest conflicts in this war, has begun.

 

[Infantryman]

The management of so many fronts must be very complex task. Although I imagine the game is lagging so much, that you can keep up with it.

 

[Cassidy]

I've configured HoI2 to pause and show a message every time:

- A ground/naval/air unit engages or is attacked
- A ground/naval unit reaches its destination

Makes it much more manageable.

Also like mentioned I've been running on Normal speed since 1946 started because of the lag.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Wow, Cassidy, I only finished reading through this huge LP now, and you have no idea how much I enjoyed it!

I think I must have wasted numerous hours at work reading this stuff, I love all the little jokes you put in, all the writing you did.. the links with our history and this game.. it's so much I don;t remember it all but I will mention some of the things I enjoyed the most, in no relevant order:

The Sabaton references, the way you google-translated english to polish, the kingcomrade vote at 2nd place, the .. omg I cant think of anything else right now.. ah it is just an excellent LP !!

 

[exe]

Also, why did the Belgium receive Ghent, while in France you took control of the captured areas?

If you make a sea invasion from an ally, it goes to them, but I guess that doesn't happen with an airdrop. I guess that's why he didn't support the Air Marines from the sea, right?

If you have researched Rear Area Supply Dumps (? the first one) you can redeploy everything by CTRL + right-click iirc

Ghent going to Belgium is odd though, shouldn't they be annexed by now? They don't have territory outside Europe or Africa.

 

[Infantryman]

Ghent going to Belgium is odd though, shouldn't they be annexed by now? They don't have territory outside Europe or Africa.

Cassidy changed the AI settings so that Aliens annex no one.

 

[Cassidy]

Ghent going to Belgium is odd though, shouldn't they be annexed by now? They don't have territory outside Europe or Africa.

Cassidy changed the AI settings so that Aliens annex no one.

I changed nothing in regards to this detail, as the standard AI that comes with the Alien Invaders coded by Paradox strangely has annexing disabled. I only made a few changes which I hoped that would make the aliens a much, much tougher enemy, and as you'll see once again(1941 was really tough), although these changes haven't fixed severe shortcomings of the AI, they actually worked.

In other words, the time of "easy" victories is going to end and the difficulty level has at least thriced. Of course putting 400 divisions against what the most pessimistic intelligence reports claim to be 1700 divisions may have something to do with it.

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

War against the Ultimate DOOM Expansion Set for Europe;

Part 1: The struggle for Caen

Soundtrack

Four Tripods and one Popamole, together with weaker divisions, try to break through the allied positions at Avranches. In spite of the superior numbers of the UDMS-KKK force in the region, the battle takes several hours before the enemy offensive finally is broken and completely driven back. At 5:00 hours, 13th of June, the forces that landed on the far north of Scandinavia began an offensive against Narvik, while another offensive against Rovaniemi began at 9:00.

Both were successful, for Narvik was defend by a lone armored division while the other target was equally poorly defended, thus most of the forces landed there began to advance southwards.

Once again the defenders of Gafsa are attacked. While at the first time they miraculously managed to hold against the tripod division, this time they were still shocked and exhausted from the latest attack, and with the support of a mostly exterminated armor division, things got even worse. Realizing they had no chances of holding out, a retreat order was given. Meanwhile, the very small frontlines, with enemies at both sides, were not a desirable situation in France. The plan was to cut off alien forces and Brittany and then procceed to exterminate them, then holding out for as long as possible, and hopefully stabilizing the front lines there, drawing away enemies from Spain and Southern France. It would be a complex game of chess, where risks would have to be taken to compensate for the numerical and technological disadvantages against the enemy.

And thus, a massed attack is launched to secure Angers, while part of the forces holding Caen are redeployed to Ghent, and, upon seeing what would come, such redeployment's strategic impact would be much larger than first thought. It was a difficult proposition: Caen was particularly vulnerable to an offensive, getting two many to Ghent would ruin the entire front lines over Brittany and Normandy, getting too little would ruin the beachhead at Ghent. Nine mountaineer divisions were chosen to arrive at Ghent, where, in face of the enemy advance and of the river to the south, Lille was chosen as the focus of advance by the allied armors there, including the Baneblades.

The reinforcements barely arrived at Ghent when three Tripod divisions and a few divisions living dead abominations armed with modern weaponry began to attempt crushing their beachhead. A bloody battle thus began, and there were no transports nearby to rescue them should they fail. They fought for their lives, knowing quite well that although the Air Marines among them have been rescued from Amsterdam, this time they might not have the same luck again.

Two hours of fighting later, neither side has managed to make any progress over the bloody battlefield. The Air Marines were fighting with utmost courage and determination, yet they still didn't succeed at driving such powerful threat away from Ghent. Meanwhile more target practice came for the fighters in Britain.

By managing to completely crush the resistance of the undead, four hours later, the UDMS-KKK forces at Ghent gained some ground, but as soon as the tripods regrouped, the battle seemingly ended in a standstill while artillery shells and anti-tank made the light of the sun a pale bright in comparison. The tripods were taking casualties but like most times, they seemingly refused to retreat.

Victory at last! It took a whole day of shelling and combat to at least succeed. Ghent was secured, for now. Meanwhile, another failed enemy attempt to hold Angers was over. Although at first glance Belgium seemed a much more strategically complicated front, the truth about how everything would change was soon to be discovered.

Realizing the threat represented by these landings, the enemy has decided to attempt breaking the backbone of the front lines in Brittany and Normandy. A horrific offensive thus would begin, in a scale never seen since ITZ began. Nine tripod divisions, representing more than 40% of the estimated entire Tripod forces of the enemy, stormed with a few fodders against the fifty-four divisions defending Caen. It was such a number of these mighty war machines that once again, the same horrors from the Year of ITZ could return, like when in Italy over 50 divisions failed to hold their ground against a much more numerically inferior enemy.

Thus, immediately as the reports from the massive attack arrived, counter-attacks were ordered from Avranches by all divisions not advancing southwards. Everybody knew what was at stake: if Caen falls, millions of men could be at the risk of being encircled inland and the entire front line would collapse. A very bloody battle would thus begin, upon which the fate of millions hanged on balance.

Meanwhile, power armor aliens attempt to secure Lille. The advance however does not stop, the enemy shall fall. securing Lille is critical to ensure the shaky future of this landing at Ghent.

However, the ITZ, that was already strong in the Naval sector, would now run the risk of reaching the necessary critical mass for becoming the Ultimate DOOM Expansion Set for Kwanzania Navy. A massive fleet surrounds the Second Battlefleet, which was providing naval support to Ghent, unless they break this blockade through a miracle, it is unlikely they could survive.

After four hours of battle, the situation at Caen worsened. Despite the flanking counter-attack, the enemy gained more ground even, and the tide of this battle was going against the UDMS-KKK so far. casualties were ramping at frightening numbers, for, despite the prediction not being optimistic at all, it still underestimated the price in blood that must be paid for the liberation of Europe. The only good news was the few inches of ground gained by the flanking offensive against Argentan. However, if Caen falls, it would be for naught.

Two hours later, Lille was secured while the enemy forces were brought to a temporary halt, but the defenders of Caen were not succeeding at driving them back. Most of their meatshields were gone from the battle, and now all that continued advancing ruthlessly were the nine Tripods, stopped only by the hail of a dozens of thousands of anti tank and artillery guns

The battle for Caen now was going in a worrisomely favorable but very slow gain of ground by the enemy, for eight hours, when a new counter-offensive was ordered immediately from the recently secured Angers, which hopefully would turn the tide. With these reinforcements, this battle now was involving more than a million of men, becoming the largest battle ever fought in Europe since ITZ.

Ten hours later however, thanks to the successes of the two counter-offensives, a small hope came for the defenders of Caen, as one of the tripod divisions were broken from the offensive. It was not over yet, however, and the enemy refused to give up easily.

After five hours of a bloody advance to drive the enemy away, Caen was at last secured. It came at a great cost, however, and although such were good news, they would not overshadow the bad news. But first, for the other good news.

Argentan was severely vulnerable after the enemy's failured to seize Caen. Such opportunity could not be missed, and there were high chances of it ending successful. Thus, after their courageous defense of Caen, the brave UDMS-KKK soldiers have no rest, for they are immediately sent to support the ongoing attacks against Argentan, now decided to be treated as fully independent offensives rather than simply counter-attacks.

And thus came one more good news, the good news are that the battle f or Argentan, at least for now, has been won, and the tripods defending it driven back. Holding Argentan against the enemy advance, specially considering the numbers amassed around Brittany, was another matter however. The bad news, on the other hand:

The former US Navy was now officially wiped out. May these brave sailors and their sacrifices never be forgotten.



The entire remnant of the Second Battlefleet, surrounded by enemy carriers and aircrafts, was completely annihilated. Not even the brave USS Cleveland managed to survive. It was however the last ship of the fleet to be sent to the bottom of the sea, and even as it began to sink, its Captain shouted very loudly amidst all the death and devastation:

ITZ COMING!

 

[Infantryman]

These alien fleets are becoming a formidable threat. Could you at least send some bombers to hunt their ships on the Channel? Anyways, great work with breaking the enemy lines. This is getting increasingly difficult, isn't it?

 

[Derper]

No more subs?

 

[Gold]

Wow, atleast humanity won't be exterminated, but retaking Eurasia might be too much. Amazing LP though.

 

[Cassidy]

No more subs?

They are being used to escort transports conducting operations against the near entirely undefended south coast of France. Also, excuse me but I've flooded enough pics already and this will have only screenshots from the game itself(in other words I can't bother searching for fluff images).

============================

Battle of Argentan Part 1

Nantes, the last province to be secured before the enemy forces at Brittany are completely isolated and ready for extermination. Stretching was always a risk, but a necessary one, and a strategically sound one for too many divisions in a single territory were less than effective when attacking. The risk of alien offensives however was major.

Due to a mistaken synchronize arrival order, Argentan is lost, and another battle for it will soon begin. If the enemy consolidates at this area they will be at a great position to strike against the thin allied front lines.

Fortunately the odds this time were much better for the UDMS-KKK than in the first battle of Argentan. Victory seemed mostly certain.

Meanwhile, a tripod division attempts to hold Rovaniemi, but thanks to the Sisu of merely being there, the UDMS-KKK soldiers prevail.

While Rovaniemi is secured, a very long stand off between two armored divisions happen in North Africa, with neither making any conclusive gains or breakthroughs.

Exploiting the enemy apparent symptoms of strategic ineptness is the only hope at having a chance of victory in Europe.

Several attempts later, the enemy fails to secure Argentan, where the forces are inbound to arrive around 21st of June. In the meantime, two tripod divisions come to Narvik, prompting a potential change of plans in Scandinavia.

In southern France, Mannerheim advances with his legendarily famous soldiers and the White Death.

More six armored divisions with Baneblade brigades are readied and being shipped to the Mediterranean front, in the meantime.

Narvik can no longer be liberated. The forces must be reorganized to hopefully break through and destroy many divisions of the enemy in souther Finland.

Tanks march towards the city of Madrid, undefended by the aliens, while the battles for Normandy carry on. And thus, Argentan seemingly was secured, with two days left for more than forty divisions to arrive at the area. Whether they would hold out successfully or not was still to be seen. The overall strategic situation now was as it follows:

In Northern Europe, Brittany has been successfully pocketed, while the advances towards Lille and Argentan procceeded, everything which tried to stop them crushed. The situation was still delicate, the fronts thin, and any mistake could prove itself fatal for hundreds of thousands.

The Mediterranean coast of Spain was completely secured. Plans were already being made to establish a defensive line from at least Bourdeaux to Perpignan, and at best even further northeastwards through France.

Very few remained in Africa to bravely attempt advancing against the powerful enemies they faced. In North Africa, an offensive through multiple fronts was being planned against the tripod division. In Central Africa, tripods continued to advance unopposed, while South Africa was brought to a halt. And thus ended another tale of the War of the Worlds.

 

[Infantryman]

Whoa, those alien stacks in Brussels and Antwerp look awful. Why didn't they attack you at Ghent yet?

 

[Cassidy]

Whoa, those alien stacks in Brussels and Antwerp look awful. Why didn't they attack you at Ghent yet?

Meanwhile, get ready for one of the worst puns I ever did.

Also, militaryphotos.net is a very cool site for searching images.

======================================

Soundtrack in homage to a prestigious Lithuanian

Ghentting out of there

Another small enemy force attempts to hold Kajaani, but is ultimately doomed to fail, specially without any support from the nastier kinds of enemy divisions. For something intended as a diversion, the offensive on Scandinavia has been proceeding with a relatively nice degree of success.

Meanwhile, the situation becomes particularly worse around Ghent, as three tripod divisions come to attempt holding Lille. A very violent battle begins, and to make things worse, it starts raining. In spite of the threat represented by these enemies, the UDMS-KKK soldiers show no fear, and even carry on on their advance.

After making some progress however, the battle ends in a stalemate. Strangely, Intel identifies one of the enemy generals as 1eyedking, who has been missing for a long time since his nationalistic butthurt because of the UDMS-KKK. Fortunately, on the other hand, the battle for Kajaani is, as predicted, won. Perhaps being there alone was truly enough to give all soldiers a greater Sisu in spite of all of them not being Finns.

Any hopes of breaking through Lille end with the arrival of more seventeen enemy divisions at it. The situation of this beachhead is starting to reach a worrissome level, and although the enemy haven't yet launched an attack against Ghent, it is only a matter of time before they do so. Thus several transports are ordered to Ghent to begin the evacuation of everybody stranded there.

Recently redeployed divisions had no chance to rest, and while they desperatedly tried to hold Gafsa. ITZ begins in Ghent. A battle where defeat equals death until the transports arrive to evacuate everybody, where the Air Marines would truly have to prove their worth.

To say the situation at Ghent was precarious would be an understatement. Disorganized after the failed offensives against Lille, the defenders were in a tight corner, they had to make their stand until the rescue arrived, or everybody would die.

Ultramarines join an already ongoing and difficult battle to dislodge a tripod division from Perpignan.

While Baneblades and Leman Russ tanks manage to buy precious time for the evacuation, air support is found as a risky undertaking when facing tripods, but all those divisions would be much more of a loss, thus the gambit was made, one that hopefully would prevent another tragedy.

Many battles were still being fought when Perpignan was at last secured. Ghent was being defended with much bravery, as expected from the realization failure equates death. Rescue was coming, and possibly they would make it through. But they could not manage it.

The advance over Spain was still virtually unopposed. Such were good news, for all those minnow forces there were ripe for annihilation. The ruins of Madrid stood there, calling the defenders of liberty, of the UDMS-KKK. It was an interesting prospect to have the first thing resembling a civilized country liberated. Both direct administration and handing it back to fascist scum were against the best interests of the UDMS-KKK. Many men had another, different idea about what to do with Spain, something similar to what was done in Iceland, that would make an old flag rise again for the first time since 1938, and permanently relegate Francisco Franco to the tinpot dictator of a bunch of islands which stand to Cuba as Cuba stands to Kwanzania. Many Spanish refugees in Kwanzania were extremely eager from hearing the rumors, now that for all that was known, there was a near certainty the total liberation of Iberia would be successful.

However, there was more to this than simply the transformation of the entire planet into a set of aligned democratic states. As soon as an act like this became official, a very important diplomatic decision would come for the UDMS-KKK. For, as soon as a recently resurrected European country becomes a member of the United Democratic Multinational States of south Kwanzania, central Kwanzania and north Kwanzania, this would pass a very clear message to the rest of the world(or more precisely, the British). The clear message that the ultimate goal of this war is not only the salvation of the human race and liberation of all continents from the alien threat, but also the complete unification of the human race under a single banner.

With the recreation of Republican Spain, the UDMS-KKK might end with severe diplomatic issues related to the question of Gibraltar, and last time territorial concerns came, the final result was the taboo of no wars being waged between humans broken. Although most considered the idea of Britain betraying the UDMS-KKK ideals absurd, WhiskeyWolf remembered quite well a certain proposal he received in regards to another, extremely secretive group of conspirators that has the creation of another kind of world government in their agenda, and might be severely involved with the United Kingdom, from the amount of Illuminati symbols tinfoil hats can scavenge there.

But such was not an immediate worry. These truly invisible enemies treaded on a thin line, apparently, for preventing the extinction of the human race was a goal they shared with the UDMS-KKK. The post-war, however, might not be the seemingly Utopian formation of a highly decentralized and solidly democratic world government. Perhaps the War of the Worlds would not be the true "war to end all wars".

Bravely, the Baneblades, Leman Russ and Space Marines held their ground long enough against superior forces for the transports to arrive and allow their safe evacuation from Belgium, land of child-eating Jews and incestuous sick fucks, details which together perhaps explain the reason why this beachhead, ultimately far more diversionary in nature than even Scandinavia, has failed.

With more divisions arriving at Nantes, the time seems finally ripe for the attempt of exterminating all alien divisions pocketed in Brittany. If intelligence and estimations about how much "man"power reserves the aliens have are right, through actions like these eventually the number of combatants shall even. For one, the amount of understrength enemy divisions spotted seem like a hopeful sign there is a chance of victory.

Then comes Lorient. Defended by five undead divisions and one POPAMOLE division in power armor, it is a tougher nut to crack, but Nutcracker, an old bro like spacemoose, can be counted on to do his jub. Air support, in this case, is the solution.

The Battle of Gafsa continues as strategic redeployments occur once again. This time, six not fully organized divisions attempt to hold their ground, but the chances seem to not be very good.

Thanks to heavy air support, soon all aliens stranded in Brittany shall be in Brest, from where deploying the extermination forces would be trivial. The front would soon become much, much more secure than it was when the amphibious and airborne operations just began. The brave defenders of Gafsa still didn't give up, but slowly they were losing ground.

Argentan was now completely secure, which would allow for all forces in Avranches to safely move forwards. It was a small gain of ground, but the current Normandy front was in a much better situation than when D-Day started.

Problems come however. Fortunately it is no mega fleet of nuclear carriers, for otherwise the heroic stands in Ghent would end in a very ironic, cynical, jaded and tragical way.

Air support against tripods still is a heavy casualties undertaking, but no longer something capable of totally wiping out several wings in only one sortie. Such was a very convenient discovery, although Command advised to, unless urgently needed, avoid air support against tripods due to the extremely heavy casualties their extremely powerful AA ray guns provoked.

Gafsa's defense carried on, the chances of victory were low but cowardice was no answer.

June 21, 1946. Ghent was successfully evacuated before a military disaster could occur. In Africa, Zuara was secured after a very long battle with 1:1 numerical odds between two armored divisions, despite the enemy tanks being much more advanced. The raiding flotilla was driven back, and Brittany was about to be cleansed from the xenos. However, one could not dismiss the dreadness of witnessing the rough intelligence reports about how many divisions were estimated to be advancing from the east.

 

[Infantryman]

You're doing really well, but breaking out of Normandy and Brittany (Operation Cobra?) will be extremely difficult.

 

[Cassidy]

You're doing really well, but breaking out of Normandy and Brittany (Operation Cobra?) will be extremely difficult.

Ideally, these doomstacks should become sandwiched between the ~100 divisions in Southern France and Spain and the 160 divisions in Normandy, and then cutted off from shore accesses and supplies.

Ideally. But in any case those divisions blocking Normandy are less divisions to operate in Southern France.