Second Bites at Apples: eCanadian War Analysis
SaraDroz
It seems generaly that the main heat of the war can now be divided into the Western and Central European theatres. Since the comprehensive defeat of ePoland in eUSA (after we, eCanada entered the war) and Addy Lawrences pre-emptive invasion of ePolish occupied eFrance (with eUSA following), ePoland thought it wise to conduct what might have been called a strategic withdrawal' liberating regions of eFrance and eGermany to stop us 'rolling them up'. Of course in real life such withdrawals can work if an army has a natural barrier (like the English Channel after Dunkirk) or a similar artificial defencive 'line' that can be held at low cost while a reorganisation is undertaken (like the secondry trench networks of WW1). In erep sadly 'following up a rout' can be halted by the liberation of a few allied provinces that effectively 'block' the chasing army.
It would be wrong to say ePolands 'strategic withdrawal' has not worked; it has disconnected them from the eCanada and eUSA fronts and divided the war into two theatres.
Central Europe; Dracula Bites Back!
Of course when the ePolish Commanders decided on this 'strategic withdrawal/blocking' re-alignment their thoughts (it can now be seen) were entirely concerned with putting as much as distance between them and those pesky maple syrup eaters as possible. They can hadly be blamed; for some unknown reason we had a voodoo effect on them; they could NOT stem the eCanadian tide, which 'horror of horrors' was chasing them in eFrance as well! Here is a prime example of what in real life has also been proved to happen; the High Command suffers a psychological trauma after a defeat. After eCanada landed in and took Pays de la Loire the obvious thing for them to do was to RW Pays de la Loire and fight for eFrance; result eCanadian excursion over and free to deal with eUSA alone... if they come. They could have kept much of eFrance and possibly reversed the tide. If they were intent of leaving eFrance this could probably have been negotiated without them having to fight for eFrance to effect a withdrawal. This lack of reasoning can only, in my opinion, be described as 'defeat trauma' or at best 'panic'.
The other symptom of this 'trauma' is now clearly evident; in concentrating wholy (and badly) on their western front they had neglected the resurgence of the core Eden enations. With eCroatias return to it's own lands (while still maintaining it's lands in eMexico) something was clearly going to change the One predominance in the Balkans. With eTurkeys change of alleigance the balance of power began to change: eCroatia, eRomania, eBulgaria, eGreece and eTurkey are a powerfull enough 'bloc'; when you add eUkraine, eRussia and eFinland you have a serious threat. I freely admit that for some time I was puzzled by the eUkrainian swaps and couldn't see their point. but these manoevres have clearly revealed their purpose, or by chance if you prefer, enabled the potential for an ePolish 'wipe'. As I write ePoland has 1 home region (Great Poland) and is surrounded by eGermany to the west, eCroatia to the south, eBulgaria to the south east and eRomania to the north... oops! I wonder if they are now pondering the merits of joining One and betraying their old allies (or 'doing an eUK'). While we eCanadians started this rout sadly we shall not be the ones to march on eWarsawa because of 'game mechanics'. We can be proud though that WE started this unprecentended chain of defeats that looks likely to be the end of ePoland. Hail eCanada!!!!
More surprising is the resurgence of a new eRomanian Empire! For those who do not know eRomania at one time (about 3yrs ago) had possibly the greatest eEmpire ever seen. In many ways ALL the alliances of the last 3 years have been based around eRomania - if you are with them you are Atalantis/Eden/Terra. If you are against them you are Peace, Phoenix, One. Before eHungary and eSerbia became 'powers' it was essentialy eRomania versus eIndonesia where they fought in eIndia. When eHungary had a 'baby boom' they ended the eRomanian Empire and the game became eRomania or eHungary (Eden or Phoenix). Terra, I suppose, is slighly different but certainly has an anti eHungary and eSerbia bias that is identical to the Eden, eRomanian based, objectives. For long eRomania has remained held in check, their bats flickering dark halls, but it seems someone spilt some blood and today they occupy eLithuania and eEstonia and northern ePoland. Dracula has risen! Great to see them back.
Western Europe: Another Bite
When I last wrote eUSA had just attacked Aquitaine. I wrote then: "This Aquitaine attack, even if won, is foolhardy in my opinion since eUSA then comes into contact with eSpain. It would have been far better to attack Midi-Pyranees.." As is now proved the Aquitaine attack failed and proved a setback with eSerbia regaining Poitou Charentes and trying to invade eUSA again in Maryland, where they were repulsed and the innitiave once again returned to eUSA. eUSA then took my advice by succesfuly taking Midi-Pyranees. They have now invaded Aquitaine successfuly again!!!!. I do not like to crtiticise our own 'side' publicly but surely, after eCanada has declared eSerbia our 'natural enemy' this Aquitaine invasion stops us being able to help them long term? eCanada is left with one target; Poitou Charentes. If eUSA had gone for Languedoc Roussillon innitiave could have been managed by both us and them: They would have needed to defeat BOTH of us to regain the strategic innitiave. This is without mentioning that eUSA also faces eSerbia and eSpain... This is a colossal mistake and may end in re-invasion of eUSA. It seems the 'euphoria of success' is sometimes as great an impediment in war as the 'trauma of defeat'...
What should be done? I am not sure the situation is capable of solution but here is my best attempt: RW Aquitaine; I am sure eFrance would love the rubber (or is eUSA being selfish here?) and attack Languedoc Roussillon while eCanada into Poitou Charentes and eFrance into Piedmont. We then have to arrange swap throughs for eCanada to get to the southern French coast regions of eSerbian occupied eFrance. This Aquitaine 3 manoevre is another major stupidity, like Aquitaine 2 that resulted in fighting in Maryland, in my opinion and the bright spark who thought of it needs to re-examine reality. However Aquiataine 2 did not prove fatal and there are reasons to suppose this blunder is recoverable, not the least being the threat of an eBrazilian invasion eSpain.
The Bigger Picture
For now, as I have outlined above, we are cut off from allies in Central and Eastern Europe by what was essentialy a successful ePolish 'retrenchment'. We cannot easily go through our allies eFrance and eGermany to get link with our allies now investing ePoland. We still have our eUK commitments also as almost part of tri-national 'subjugation force'. I would argue that our future strategy should be to connect and link with our allies in Central and Eastern Europe. This way we can act with 'combined initiaves' with them: If we lose a battle they can attack and vice versa etc... Of course the answer to this is plain: eItaly, whose homelands are entirely occupied by the enemy. While I am sure our allies have their hands full with ePoland and eHungary if we could make this link we convert the 'two theatres' into a single whole. Such a strategy is risky to be sure but it seems we have no 'limited objectives' of clearing eUSA etc... As such our best hope is to connect with eCroatia via northern eItaly. To do this we have 2 options (once we reach the southern eFranch coast which eUSA has stupidly ignored): We can go via the Islands (Corsica, Sardinia etc) or through eSerbia and eSlovenia (Piedmont then Emilla Romagna would be easiest), Both carry risks, the 'Island route' is open to counter attack by eSpain, while the 'Northern route' engages a new enemy, whose blood we have not yet spilled so to speak. There is, of course, always a third option: To go [i[via eSpain.[/i] Basicly head south and meet our South American allies in eSpain but this again risks losing eFrance and our footholds there.
Much will depend no doubt on IRC 'conferences' as we reasses our prioties apres ePoland (who are largely out of the near future). For eCanada it must be eSerbia (even if this costs an eUK withdrawal) and toward eItaly. In my last article I spoke of the 'three phases' since eCanada entered this war: 1. Clearing eUSA. 2. Clearing eFrance of ePoland. 3. eSerbia. When I last wrote Phase 3 had begun and it met with a setback. It continues and the reverse has been sustained and mismanaged after. We need now to rectify the Aquitaine 3 mistake and plan Phase 4: The link.
Etc...
On more domestic affairs I and not sure how the nCPF vote is going for Presidental support but as our President, Addy Lawrence, has now returned home to his old Party, and he has lead the way in the resurgence of Eden and Terra, the conquest of eUK and liberation of large parts of eFrance and eGermany (not to mention eUSA!) and the near anihilation of ePoland, I have NO problem in advocating that you vote for Addy Lawrence. He has made mistakes but has publicly admitted to them. He isn't a 'war expert' or a 'military type' but had the guts to invade eFrance before eUSA and forcing their hand. If he's not a 'military type' we need more Presidents that aren't!! (excluding Chucky Norris). I do not see any point in changing a successful President. It is sometimes said that the times make the man; if you happen to be there at the right time you become 'great'. Alexander the Great inherited the army his father had built etc... Still takes a wise person to use it well! No Addy cannot be credited with our remarkable victories; however the management of them belongs to him and his Ministers.
I hope you all had a good festive season!
Comments
That was a very long read
oh and first?
fantastic analysis, tyvm
Agree or disagree I love when someone takes the time to provide a real analysis of what is going on. Good read Sara.
Wow, great article!
Fantastic article!
Good read, like always.
A sad note: our war with Serbia was stillborn without a single battle fought. Nevermind that the USA blocked us in Aquitaine (really, whose bright idea was that?) but the Serbians were quick enough to start a resistance war in Poitou Charentes meaning that Addy could not choose when to attack. More importantly, though, is the fact that the French won the RW, although I would suspect that Serbia gave it back on purpose.
That leaves us with very few options at the moment. There is our perennial enemy the UK which has reclaimed Scotland and Northern Ireland and are two mini-battles away from reclaiming North East of England. Other than them there's.... well, nobody, really. Denmark's now Germany so if we took Scotland all we'd have would be Norway's southern region of Sorlandet (I'm not sure whether Norway's back under control at this point) but I don't see what good one battle would do... unless we wanted to take them on a walkabout down to Poitou Charentes to get that rubber region.
voted
Thanks for the endorsement Sara
"...strategic withdrawal..."
I lol'd. In ice hockey when an opponent backs away from a fight we call that "turtling", other people call it "heading for the hills with your tail between your legs", in the schoolyard they call it "running away".
TL😉R
As always, a comprehensive and well-thought-out analysis - fine work, Sara. A couple thoughts:
1) As you've quite rightly pointed out, eItaly must almost certainly be the battleground on which the next phase of this allied assault will be fought. Should either Canada or the US be successful in securing the Serbian portion of France's southern coast, the only question will be which ONE power (Serbia or Slovenia) the allies want to attack; since Slovenia has as yet been uninvolved, my bet is on Serbia, at which point a trip through the islands makes sense. Either way, should such an invasion be imminent, I wouldn't be surprised to see Serbia hedge its bets and RW Apulia/Molise/Abruzzo, either to let we Italians take them back or to allow Slovenia to move in and force a decision from HQ. For my part, I certainly hope this comes to pass--it's been too long since we've seen friendly forces on Italian soil.
2) I hope you won't make too many apologies for your criticism of the American strategic effort. Not only is it seemingly spot-on with respect to analysis, but it's done to be constructive and to help both the US and its Canadian bros going forward; surely this is a case of unkind words being used for the most noble of causes. Some opinions are best kept to oneself, but I don't believe this is one of them.
Whatever happens, we in eItaly are looking forward to helping drive ONE back as far east as possible. It seems like this is now a more realistic goal than ever, so here's hoping!
*EDIT: didn't see the RW in Corsica. Apparently Serbia has already begun the process of building its impassable wall.
Indeed. Too bad we couldn't make it to Southern France.
As usual Sara, a brilliant read!
not enough good analysis in this country, mostly just cocks and asses :/
thanks for providing something worth reading!