Part 16: Turn 31, Turn 32
Turn 31: August 19th, 1915
Production
Scheer is back and Austria has more planes but Germany doesn't have the production for more ships. We can transport men at a decent rate but hopefully their battleships don't show up so we can have three supply points.
Research
Nothing really new here. Nothing that can break open a front, anyway.
Diplomacy
Bulgaria will fill gaps nicely; they need to hurry up.
Management
Two percent to penalties. No other news here.
Eastern Front
We shift away from the artillery but still in a blocking positions. To the south, we surround Vilna and get pretty close to taking Minsk. They will repair between turns but their efficiency is getting down there so it should be ours soon.
Due to the dissolution of a serious Russian line, we have elements of AGS transferring to AGC as we push hard past Pripyat and leave only a regiment in Kiev. The remainder of AGS starts swinging south to take the cities on the way to Crimea. Though it costs a couple divisions, Vinnytsia falls.
Italian Front
In the north, two more Line Corps are put on the wire to prevent Italian excursions into German territory.
Austria bombards the leading Italian army from the land, sea and air while more men continue to get into position. Though We still need to deploy some troops, the advanced support units should tip the scales as long as we have shells.
Ottoman Front
Not a God damn thing happens. Not a one.
Operation Sea Lion
We move our cruisers to fully supply the southernmost units. We invade from the north and cut off Norwich. The army in the north will drop to no supply but as we bring more ships into better positions we can take the city and use that as a staging ground. It won't be easy but we are close to having a more stable foothold.
We also embark a cavalry army and a full army. Next turn we will have the ships ready for yet another one. Our planes provide shaky cover and we are bombarding anything we can with our battleships due to a huge surplus of shells.
No sign of the rest of the Grand Fleet for now though.
Allied Response
Russia deploys more reserves and is possibly thinking about launching an assault.
Russia moves their reserve away and then the camera moves. Maybe we can take the city easily. I had moved the reserve away but didn't think much would come of it.
Italy wants Trento so bad. So fucking bad. For now though, we are holding nicely and they aren't able to make headway against Austria.
OH FUCK THE SHELLS... oh. Nothing happens. Reminder that there are still at least 1 artillery, two full armies, and one garrison here. Just keep that in mind. Britain, which has to depend on shipping and has high upkeep and loses morale when they go into a deficit, has at least that many units in Egypt.
Four armies (with one in reserve, artillery around, fighters somewhere, and a fucking garrison at Norwhich) launch a massive counter attack, nearly killing our reserve and wiping out 8th army. Things are looking bad here. Really bad. That said, if we can keep them going into deficit the British people will lose their resolve and want out. Hopefully that doesn't cost too much German blood.
Turn 32: September 2, 1915
Winter is on its way in a few months and they now have Norwich entirely locked down.
Eastern Front
In the haste of the advance, AGN and AGC meet up and Minsk falls. Kovno is pretty rigid but we are making huge inroads into Ukraine and only winter will stop us at this point. Glad to know one front is continuing to go well.
Slightly further south, we are still making a very rapid advance. Russia has no decent rivers or anything here to set up a line so we can count on advancing further.
Russia found the resources to place a full army here. Although the pace of our push is tiring, it is still two full armies and 3 corps to 1 here.
Italian Front
Trento is still holding strong, we are digging in at Munich, and Austria makes a huge stride. Using two air groups and shells from the water, the leading Italian army is reduced to one shattered division and forced back. We may not have the shells for a full bombardment but between our fighters and ships we have some momentum here. If we can thrash Italy, maybe we can convince them to join our side and have more troops for this increasingly scary Sea Lion adventure.
Ottoman Front
Sensing an open city, our corps moves forwards and finds a brand new army. Hey, if Russia wants to pull perfectly good forces away from the main battle that is their loss. We continue to hit at Sarikamish.
We reform the line. Hopefully Britain keeps adding men to this front because holy shit.
A Giant Wet Fart (Sea Lion)
We embark and move out more men. Bombarding Norwich yields little and I think we may nee dto shift away and try to land in multiple spots and attack their periphery. We still have more men and more manpower and production, it is just a matter of bringing it to bear.
If nothing else, this will force them to start railing troops away. If we land at three or so places we can split their forces. We only have three ships though so we have to be really careful and have one landing zone take a city.
Allied Response
Found a battleship! The Last remnant of the Grand Fleet comes out to destroy most of 8th Army. They do cause Britain to rail some troops out first.
They block further excursions into easy territory at Norwich and continue to pound on our weakest unit.
Russia, planning... who knows what, brings their cavalry away from Brest-Litovsk. I may pivot a full army around to destroy that pocket and capture the fortress. Every bit of production we take will sap the Russian ability to wage war.
Italy shifts units closer to Trieste and launches attacks all up and down the line. Though they have a lot of men here, we still have the advantage in artillery and air support. They do terror bomb another point of production away from Vienna though.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. 3 full armies and artillery and a garrison now. I can't imagine they can hold out past the summer of 1916 with how much they have deployed but it is seriously costing more than I had hoped.
Next time, we decide what to do about those battleships, knowing we can't leave the landing parties to their fate, and we launch attacks at any and all undefended ports. This is turning into a crapshoot but again, we can whittle down morale if they are deficit spending. We also aren't going to lose the continent even if we have to call off the invasion. The downside of that though would be having to wait until Bulgaria enters and then railing heavy guns all the way down to Egypt and taking the fight to Britain there.