Hallo zusammen,
in the opening season, I felt each and every great power had to contend with both good and bad news. A remarkably balanced picture. Well, the trend continues to a degree. Nobody is enjoying explosive growth, but neither has any player been forced to forego any builds - let alone disband. Everything to play for! My rundown:
Britain:
The Prime Minister secured an undefended Tripoli without even calling on the services of his Egyptian client. Yet now the Turkish navy has appeared on the horizon and may well gun for the British holdings adjoining the Libyan Sea. Back in home waters, the French were sighted in the Channel. A planned naval descent on Hamburg was a dismal failure. And now Britain's German enemies command the strategically important ports in the Netherlands... Britain has merely one build to her name. Which theatre will receive the newly available funds? And which shall be left with a (pretty) barebones defence?
France: The President didn't even bother about defending Algiers. Might have the French actually acquiesced in the Italian takeover...? One wonders in light of the Duce having spared Marseille. Then again, the Nationalists' offered support to a (never forthcoming) Republican advance into Catalonia suggests that France and Italy are indeed at war. Paris may well rejoice that Berlin and Rome are now at loggerheads. All of France's neighbours don't seem to be getting along with another. Unless we're talking of the perverse cooperation across ideological lines we're witnessing in Spain. Anyway, France has now attacked an England that just had lent France support. Seems like Anglo-French relations will have deteriorated quite a bit. Over in the Middle East, A Beirut has proven itself rather useful. Those Iraqi oilwells are now France's to exploit and this will allow for greater military expenditure back at home.
Germany: Repulsing a British invasion while also garnering - thanks to French support - the Netherlands ain't too bad. Down at the Brenner Pass, the Duce launched a surprise attack only to be beaten back. Of course a hostile Italy next to a belligerent Britain should only strengthen the Franco-German ties cooperation in the Low Countries speaks to.
Italy: So, the Duce has now crossed swords with the President, the Prime Minister and now also with the Chancellor. Quite an opening year! Though he's pulled off an admirable diplomatic feat in Spain. Somehow Italy's leader has gotten the Republicans to support a Nationalist ascendancy! My hat's off to you, Signore.
Poland: A rather underwhelming first-year performance considering the very considerable expansion potential the Rzeczpospolita enjoys. While it is true that neither Germany or the Soviet Union attacked the state Pilsudski forged, both of Poland's neighbours enjoyed more growth. Can't be good.
Soviet Union: Okay, Uncle Joe has sold the Republicans to the devil. Is he cynically sacrificing those Spaniards on the altar of Soviet aggrandisement? Buying favours from Italy? World revolution clearly has lost out to "socialism in one country"... Well, socialism also in select Scandinavian countries... For Koba has done very nicely in the Far North. But what of the General Secretary's army in the Ukraine? It's twiddling its thumbs.
Turkey: It took a while to persuade the Bulgarians to join a new Balkan Pact orchestrated by Ankara. But now they're safely within Turkey's orbit. In the Med Turkey appears to be positioning herself for an assault on British holdings. As for the Persian Gulf region, Kemal was offered support into Iran, but chose to rather altruistically support the French instead.
Winter 1936 follows Friday, 9 October.
Happy dipping!
Charles
FRENCH PRESS:
Ile-de-France: The French government is still upset over its Foreign Service for failing to detect the English-Italian cabal in time to circumvent the embarrassing results of last season's orders. President Bouzille had this to say: "Well, we still have Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. All the Italians have is il Douche. And a bunch of pissed off Algerians."
The French government has ordered the royal Academie des sciences et fromages to investigate the possibility of limited time travel to avoid making the wrong decisions in the future. In true Gallic fervor, the proposal was accepted with great alacrity, merriment, and drinking; then forgotten about after the Academy's Secretary accidentally used the royal decree for toilet paper in les toilettes.
SOVIET PRESS:
Izvestia news: The Army of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Eastern Ukraine supports Republican Army Valencia!
Only three years after the worst famine in the history of Eastern Europe - caused by counter-revolutionaries backed by capitalist and fascist Western powers hostile to the coming dawn of the Communist age, a dawn that will burn those parasites feeding off the blood of the workers to ashes - the Ukrainian people have shown the resilience of the New Soviet Man by banding together to send food supplies to their embattled Spanish comrades. A spokesman for the Republicans stated that Comrade Stalin set the best possible example for all those fighting to free the workers from the chains of oppression.*
*We thought it a little odd that this spokesman spoke fluent unaccented Russian but did not seem to understand the question: 'Cuantos hombres en verde envio los sovieticos?'
From the desk of Stalin: Delegates from the new Soviet Socialist Republic of Finland today unanimously* voted to join the USSR, reminding all of us that Hegelian historicism as recognised by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels is playing out today in the actions of everyone on earth right now. Lenin, my dear departed comrade in arms, once relied upon the Finnish people to protect him from the death squads of Kerensky's tyrannical and compromised regime. Now I too - and all who have the proletariat at heart - can rely once more upon the protection of Finland.
I note with sadness, however, that unreconstructed elements and reactionaries from the discredited former regime in Finland have not seen fit to celebrate the liberation of Finnish workers, soldiers and peasants but instead have spent the last few weeks fighting one another, leading to a series of murders of these enemies of the state. While it had been in our mind to hold out the hand of friendship to those who had misguidedly embraced the poison that is capitalism, it is clear that violent criminals cannot be so easily rehabilitated. Let it be known that our hardworking police forces will spare no effort to hunt down these killers. I am putting Vasily Mikhailovich Blokhin in charge. I am sure that he will get results.
*Those who might have voted otherwise did not, for some reason, see fit to attend.
ORDERS:
Britain:
F Edinburgh - Northern North Sea
F Gibraltar - South-Western Approaches
F Libyan Sea - Tripoli
F Southern North Sea - Hamburg (*Fails*)
France:
A Belgium Supports F Hamburg - Netherlands
A Catalonia - Marseille
A Morocco Hold
F Picardy - English Channel
A Syria - Iraq
Germany:
A Austria Hold
A Berlin - Hamburg
F Hamburg - Netherlands
Italy:
A Piedmont - Switzerland (*Fails*)
F Tunisia - Algiers
A Venetia - Austria (*Fails*)
F Southern Tyrrhenian Sea Supports F Tunisia - Algiers
Poland:
A Transylvania - Serbia (*Fails*)
A Warsaw - Lithuania
F Gulf of Danzig Supports A Warsaw - Lithuania
Soviet_Union:
A Eastern Ukraine Hold
F Finland(sc) - Sweden
A Leningrad - Finland
Turkey:
A Istanbul - Bulgaria
A Kurdistan Supports A Syria - Iraq
F Aegean Sea - Libyan Sea
Nationalist_Spain:
A Madrid Supports A Valencia - Catalonia (*Void*)
Republican_Spain:
A Valencia Supports A Madrid
Bulgaria:
A Bulgaria Hold (*Disbanded*)
Czechoslovakia:
A Czechia Supports A Austria
Denmark:
F Denmark Supports A Berlin - Hamburg
Egypt:
A Egypt Hold
Greece:
F Greece Hold
Hungary:
A Hungary Supports A Venetia - Austria
Iran:
A Iran Hold
Iraq:
A Iraq Supports A Kurdistan - Iran (*Disbanded*)
Latvia:
A Latvia Supports A Warsaw - Lithuania
Lithuania:
A Lithuania Hold (*Disbanded*)
Netherlands:
F Netherlands Hold (*Disbanded*)
Norway:
F Norway Supports F Finland(sc) - Sweden
Portugal:
F Portugal Supports F Gibraltar - South-Western Approaches
Rumania:
A Rumania Supports A Istanbul - Bulgaria
Sweden:
F Sweden Hold (*Disbanded*)
Switzerland:
A Switzerland Supports A Catalonia - Marseille (*Cut*)
Yugoslavia:
A Croatia Hold
A Serbia Hold
RETREATS:
None.
ADJUSTMENTS:
Britain:
Build
France:
Build
Build
Germany:
Build
Build
Poland:
Build
Soviet_Union:
Build
Build
Turkey:
Build
Nationalist_Spain:
Build
SC OWNERSHIP (Winter 1935):
Britain (4): Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Suez.
France (5): Algiers, Beirut, Brest, Marseille, Paris.
Germany (3): Berlin, Hamburg, Munich.
Italy (4): Milan, Naples, Rome, Tripoli.
Poland (3): Cracow, Gdynia, Warsaw.
Soviet Union (3): Leningrad, Moscow, Stalingrad.
Turkey (3): Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir.
Nationalist_Spain (1): Burgos.
Republican_Spain (1): Valencia.
Austria: Austria.
Belgium: Belgium.
Bulgaria: Bulgaria.
Czechoslovakia: Czechia.
Denmark: Denmark.
Egypt: Egypt.
Finland: Finland.
Greece: Greece.
Hungary: Hungary.
Iran: Iran.
Iraq: Iraq.
Latvia: Latvia.
Lithuania: Lithuania.
Morocco: Morocco.
Netherlands: Netherlands.
Norway: Norway.
Portugal: Portugal.
Rumania: Rumania.
Sweden: Sweden.
Switzerland: Switzerland.
Yugoslavia: Croatia, Serbia.
Unowned: Madrid.
SCHEDULE (3 PM GMT):
Winter 1936 Retreats/Adjustments: 9 October
Spring 1937 Moves: 14 October
Summer 1937 Retreats: 16 October
Fall 1937 Moves: 21 October |
