In the northwest, unforgotten by everybody, Sinkiang prosecutes the war against Japan. Although they offer peace, that only proves their weakness. Presently (in about four months) they will cease to exist.
Survivors of the earlier attack against the Lake Changfukeng Resort are again accosted by the cream of the Soviet army while shopping in the tourist town of Nomonhan. This time the Soviets barely eek out a victory, largely through their use of a captured brainwashed renamed heavily surgically altered Japanese man named Georgy Zhukov. Foreign devils!
The redness of the provinces in the background represent the intensity of partisan activity. Proper deployment of "police garrisons" is in order, but only because it sounds less internationally inflammatory than "brutal oppression squads". And NOBODY does brutal oppression like the Japanese.
Sweet sweet ship assembly line. As can be seen from the description, it dramatically reduces the length of shipbuilding for pretty much every ship. It also makes available a new model of a completely worthless naval brigade.
WHAT THE HELL, GERMANY!
Oh well. With this pact of eternal friendship between the Germans and the Soviets, the global peace is secured FOREVER.
WHAT THE HELL, GERMANY!
By declaring war on the villainous nation of Poland, the peaceful Germans bring in the saber-rattling western Allies against them. Luckily their fighting power is second only to that of the Japanese, and they are backed by the superpower of Slovakia and its staggering like 11 IC.
Ten days into the Polish Campaign, a less delicious form of Polish sausage, the Germans have... well, made SOME progress, anyway. The Slovakian province of Kosice has been overrun, which isn't necessarily a bad thing since an advance into Przemysl would create a small pocket. The fact that a decent leader could totally overrun Poland in ten days is secondary.
Finally, in October Poland ceases to be and the peace of Eastern Europe, at least, is secured forever. Not pictured: the Soviets end up with the province of Stryj, near the tail of Hungary.
Halfway across the world, General Ueda's Third Army is about to advance into Urumqi, ending the bloody Sinkiang-Japanese War that claimed nearly one life. Of some note is that Ueda also won the attack on Yuling, a battle that lasted nine days since all months including February have thirty days. Naturally.
The Netherlands, aware of Germany's peaceful intentions, sign a pact with Luxembourg and Belgium to aggressively cut their factory output to zero. THEY WILL ALL PAY FOR THIS INSULT.
Ah, yes. Peaceful Eastern Europe.
WHAT THE HELL, RUSSIA!
I guess Finland... looked at them funny? However it works out, Finland prepares to squish Russia like a bug. Sadly, in Soviet Russia, Russia squashes you!
A German ship, the Altmark, with prisoners of war aboard is stopped by a British ship in Norwegian waters. Germany, outraged, decides to punch Norway right in the testicles. Norway protests to the British, who thereupon prepare to punch Norway right in the testicles to keep the Germans from doing it.
After four years of admiring the beauty of a single plum floating in a man's hat full of perfume, Isoruko Yamamoto comes to the fore and starts researching ways to make the Japanese navy kick more ass than it did before. As basically the best naval doctrine researcher in the game AND one of the best active admirals, Yamamoto is awesome. Also pictured: Hideki Tojo, who is frankly adorable.
Elsewhere in Tokyo, Fujie Keisuke rings in his sixth month or so as Minister of Security, cracking the whip to make those foreign factories work a little bit harder. Because he's such a hardass, the Japanese want more televisions for some reason. This year's slider move was toward Standing Army.
A few weeks later, a number of destroyer flotillas are completed. These aren't terribly notable except for the fact that they are type IV destroyers, while the most modern in the fleet to this point has been type II. What happened to type III? Hell if I know.
The Finns fold remarkably quickly, after just two months. In reality, the Finns held out six weeks longer. This is a worrisome display of competence on the part of the Russians. Luckily, the peace of Eastern Europe is now forever guaranteed!
Those preparations for testicle-punching come to naught when the day comes for Fall Weserubung and Hitler's dog is a bit ill. Recognizing this for the omen that it is, he declares Scandinavia unimportant, a strategically irrelevant move except that Norway and Denmark are soft targets and have fair amounts of rare materials, which Germany lacks. So really it's more like FAIL Weserubung.
Admiral Nagano's carrier fleet, outfitted now with type IV destroyers AND type IV light cruisers in addition to a mess of type III carriers, is rebased to Truk. It is now in position to dominate the region. It will shortly thereafter be joined by two squadrons of naval bombers.
Hitler's dog is feeling better by May, meaning that Operation Stomp All Over The Low Countries And France goes forward. Ten days later, the British put a longtime politician and bulldog-lookin' guy in the Prime Minister's slot. Although he led a regiment or so in World War One, the only combat experience for which he is really remembered in Gallipoli, a brutally unsuccessful and bullheaded campaign that wasted tens of thousands of British and Commonwealth lives, especially ANZACs, and effectively made the reputation of Mustafa Kemal, that great Turk who died in late '38. If he's as ineffective a Prime Minister as he was a strategist, everything should be copacetic.
Although the campaign is initially somewhat slow going, Luxembourg falls quickly and the beginnings of an outflanking of the Maginot Line can be seen. The fall of Rotterdam in early June marks the expulsion of Dutch forces from Europe, and they are pushed back into their Indonesian holdings. If only Germany had some sort of ally in the Pacific!
Gradually Belgium is left behind, and the German forces press into France. By June 11, a mere 41 days into the campaign, they are in many places at lines they held at their height in the Great War. On June 14th, the Belgians are completely pushed out of Europe... and apparently the Soviet Union annexes Latvia. I'm sure that THIS time the peace of Eastern Europe is guaranteed forever.
In mid-June, German progress accelerates and the French note that their beautiful Maginot Line is completely outflanked by a surprised German maneuver that nobody could have seen coming except people who actually paid attention in 1914 when they did exactly the same thing. Apparently no French people number among this select group. Also of note (in the event log at the bottom) is that Italy has formally joined the Axis. This is a bold move by Germany, allowing them in, like a man saying "I'm so powerful I can beat you ONE-HANDED".
Back in Japan and May, the IJN Musashi and the IJN Yamato are completed, and even have super fancy fire control systems, which are not used to control fires but to shoot better. It can be seen that these battleships, thanks to their massive guns and advanced targeting systems, have a sea attack value of 29, against a value of 18 for the type III battleships heading the Second Fleet's roster. At this point, carriers have an attack value of about 10, though to be fair they do it from 200km away instead of the paltry 43km that only the superheavies can hope to achieve.
Also of note are the 18 divisions posted on the border with Vladivostok.
The British, seeing the imminent fall of France, realize they need another deadweight ally to tie down resources and complicate logistics unnecessarily without making a meaningful contribution to the war effort. A guarantee of Greek independence, toward whom the covetous eyes of Italy turn, is issued forthwith.
The Soviets annex Estonia, thus guaranteeing the peace of Eastern Europe forever. This is only reinforced by their declaration of friendship with Romania instead of taking the sweet sweet three IC to be had in Bessarabia. This may, however, prevent a Romanian alliance with Germany.
Recognizing that defeat is inevitable, Field Marshal Petain works with the Germans to establish a new, smaller, collaborationist government based at Vichy. The Japanese ambassador, a shrewd fellow known only as Nate!, leans on the French to hand over Indochina for its protection. They agree.
A small group of French leaders escape to London or French Africa, and a "Free French" state is built up around historical footnote Charles DeGaulle. The destruction of the old central government, always a bastion of stability before, means that Lebanon and Syria can no longer be directly occupied. They set off to find their own destinies, which may include "being crushed by Germany" or "being crushed by the Allies".
The Russians score the hat trick by annexing Lithuania, thus establishing an endless peace for Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, Italian man Italo Balbo "mysteriously" dies. Yeah, real mysterious.
Japanese dispositions in the northwest, along Russia's central Asian border. But these are irrelevant because war is impossible.
In a genuinely staggering feat of German competence, forces of the Reich land at Portsmouth. So the British fight them on the beaches and wreck the beachhead, not to mention the forces landed. It is nevertheless impressive, given the British dominance of the seas. Also featured are Japanese forces upgraded to the 1941 model, who can be seen shyly looking back over their shoulders at the photographer. Nearby, one man, still thrilled by his rifle, holds it up proudly.
The Germans and Hungarians give the Romanians reason to love them long time by forcing the ceding of Transylvania to Hungary. Bulgaria, realizing Germany has a good thing going with this "beat up on the defenseless" idea, demands Constanta. And gets it.
In gratitude for having her national sovereignty abrogated, Romania joins the Axis and participates in the war Italy declares on Greece.
German proposes a Tri-Partite Pact to its major allies Italy and Japan, defining spheres of influence and suggesting general cooperation in getting their proper places in the sun. The useful ally signs. Italy does too.
Nine marine divisions are placed on the border with Burma, because the land there is largely jungle, and marines are somewhat less bad at fighting there than average. Holding the rest of the line in Baoshan are mountain troops, since where the land isn't jungle it's mountains.
More marines are in production, in the event some sort of "island hopping" campaign is necessitated.
Chad Thompson, 26, defects to France. The German war effort is dealt a significant blow.
Another year gone. Where does the time go? Into the ever-gnashing mouths of the Time Demon, of course. So here it is 1941. Another minor cabinet change is made, which turns out to be irrelevant for reasons to be seen shortly, placing Nagano Osami as the Chief of the Navy because of his useful thoughts on how best to use the ships I actually do use. As before, the slider move is toward Standing Army.
After Yugoslavia makes a Your Mom joke at an Axis get-together, Hitler kicks them out of the Axis and declares war on them. Bulgaria, drunk off its Slavic ass, joins in.
American spies! The villains sabotage our peaceful expansion of our navy. They must pay for this!
The reason Osami's placement in the cabinet was irrelevant is because of this, a significant change of government. In addition to turning Japan from a National Socialist state into a merely Fascist one, almost all cabinet positions are changed. For the most part, the changes aren't bad.
Death Of A Yugoslavia, by Arthur Miller.
The Italians show their stuff. Pity they aren't somehow reinforced by the Germans, perhaps with tanks and a competent commander. But that's impossible.
The Germans show their defense of nationalism and justice by granting independence to Croatia, one of the thirteen provinces liberated from the brutal Yugoslavian reign.
And that brings us up to June, since nothing interesting happened in May.
Rising tensions threaten to break the eternal peace of Eastern Europe, with the Soviets rattling their sabers and planning to export Communism. It could be that they will have to be destroyed. The question then becomes whether it is appropriate for Japan to become involved, as noble Germany should not have to stand alone and gain all the glory. However, with the Americans and the Allies grumbling at Japan for her heroic liberation of the Chinese masses, war may well be upon us from those directions as well, and a substantial commitment to fighting in Russia - which would be necessary if there is to be any fighting at all - could prove a significant distraction and diversion of vital manpower and resources. On the other hand, should Japan leave Russia alone, it may be that the sub-Japanese fighting spirit of the German soldier will be broken by the endless hordes of Communists and all Europe fall to the Red Menace.