HOI III (Their Finest Hour) AAR - What could have been

[undercovergeek]

Inspired by SDR's excellent AAR of France, ive decided to dust off HOI III, install the 'Their Finest Hour' add-on and attempt to steer Italy to a better fate.

Italy has a unique position in the Mediterranean. Its overall position may even be compared to Britain and the North Sea. As Britain commanded all traffic between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean by virtue of its position, controlling both the body of water between Scotland and Iceland and controlling the Channel between herself and France, Italy too found herself in a potentially dominating situation.

Firsly, Italy commands the Adriatic Sea - it's only maritime rivals being the state of Yugoslavia. Similarly the Ionian Sea, which is easily controlled from the naval base at Taranto and the only rival here being Greece. She also commands the Tyrrhenian Sea between the mainland and the two islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Lastly, the Ligurian Sea, which was not commanded by the Italians - the French had influence here by virtue of their naval base at Toulon and the island of Corsica. This influence was counterbalanced by the major Italian base at La Spezia.

But what about the wider Mediterranean? Italy controls only the minor seas. It was well documented at the time that Britain viewed the Mediterranean Sea as their lifeline, as their own sea, a shortcut to India and the greater imperial Southeast Asian crescent spanning from India to Burma and down the Malay Peninsula to the great crown colony of Singapore. The Royal Navy base at Valletta, on the well-placed island of Malta, controlled the very center of the Mediterranean. Gibraltar and the Suez Canal locked the flanks.

Not since the days of Roman glory had Italy been powerful enough to exert commanding influence over more than secondary tracts of water. By the mid 1930s its lag behind the great powers of the day was more noticable than ever. Italy's ambitions lay effectively thrall to whatever goodwill emanated from London. Outwardly, Italy bore such limitations stoically despite being repeatedly thwarted ever since the end of the Great War. Within, however, Italy's strategic analysts boiled with frustration and vented their displeasure by dreaming up vast schemes to lay Britain low, to dismember France and to gain sway over the Balkans and across the entire Mediterranean.

Could a new Rome rise by commanding the seas around Italy and projecting its new power over the Mediterranean?

[Martok]

Sounds good 'geek.  Looking forward to more.  :) 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Looking forward to reading this, Geek.  Italy looks like a really interesting country to play.  Watch out for those damned Royal Marines!  They're sneaky.

[Staggerwing]

Just send your Legendary Frogmen after the RN. Those guys were amazing- they didn't even need underwater mines. They could sink ships just by bashing holes in the hulls with their Big Brass Balls.

[undercovergeek]

Dear Lord, theres work to be done for the development companies, recruiters and engineers based in Italy. In short the army consists of 145 brigades who should have manpower totaling just over 400,000 however, the army reports that considerable resources are required to bring these units up to full strength. The navy has 59 ships of varying types and classes, and the air force has 12 units. The navy and air force claims the majority of the fuel spent, though the army requires two thirds of all the supplies that are directed to the support of the armed forces.



Looking into the army in further detail its possible to see that 20% of whole army, unit-wise, is made up of headquarters alone totaling 99,000 men and requiring over a fourth of all the supplies the army consumed, this needs changing! Nearly half the army consists of infantry brigades, with an cieling of 189,000 men. Most important of all for Italy's future plans were the mobile forces of the Regio Esercito, six cavalry, three motorized infantry and one armored car brigades. These were the units that would for now be the cadre of our armored corps. The armed forces are in a very bad way



The air force is in better shape - just. Half of the Regia Aeronautica is made up of interceptor squadrons. With Italy's new maritime emphasis we need a defensive army aviation doctrine. The intended role of our interceptors is to clear the skies above Italian armies and escort medium bombers on tactical missions - speaking of which, there are three squadrons of these. We need to advance our understanding of naval bombers if we are to control our own sea zones



The Regia Marina is possibly the most effective service of our armed forces. We have four battleships and eight heavy cruisers - our capital ships of the fleet. We have eighteen destroyer flotillas and twelve light cruisers. These lighter ships will be the workhorses of our fleet and are advanced and plenty enough to ease concerns about our new strategic vision. Another light cruiser is in dry dock nearing completion and will join the fleet by mid January. The remaining naval units consist of six transport flotillas and a fairly strong submarine arm of eleven flotillas. With our intention to become a maritime force the transport fleet will have to be expanded. I dont anticipate too much use of the submarine fleet and the one submarine in construction is cancelled.

[undercovergeek]

Our first set of research programmes -

Developments are put into our infantry. Moschetto will aim to improve their old Moschetto Mod. 91 TS rifle, Breda will develop an infantry support weapon to replace the aging Brixia Model 35 light mortar, the aim with both is to improve the technology and increase the lethality of the standard Italian infantry regiment. These new weapons are essential for the development of a dedicated amphibious infantry. In summary, Italy is not thinking of her already vast infantry army but of a future force of marines.

I'm directing some resources to improving Italy's educational system, the anticipated results of which would be beneficial to Italy's officer corps, diplomatic corps, intelligence service and technological firms.

I'm also aiming to increase both industrial production and efficiency.

Improvements are ordered in electronic and mechanical engineering. These improvements will lead directly to not just radio technology but also computing machines that will increase the efficiency of future contracts and initiatives. 

Research is directed to the operations staff of the Regia Marina - they were to independently develop a tactical doctrine for fleet auxiliary carriers. This is where the new Italy's ambitions lie, her thinking is not limited to Gibraltar and Suez, rather to well-placed islands capable of basing aircraft for control of the sea, and of the abilities to artificially define zones of battle and deny entry to unwanted ships.

Research is also put into development of an escort carrier. This is the first real stage of Italy's new ambition, smaller carriers have to be developed before the development of fleet carriers, the aim is true power projection. Between marines and sea-based air power the plan is to control not just the seas but the coastlines as well.

Research is put into naval engineering and aeronautical engineering. The quality of our Navy needs to equal and in some cases outstrip our intended foes.

I want improvements for the main armament, as well as the anti-aircraft defensive systems of light cruisers. Practical developments will give greater emphasis to light cruisers over destroyers, as well as technological developments.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

When's the next update, Il Duce?  I thought you people were supposed to have the trains running on time and whatnot.

[undercovergeek]

lmao - im desperate to update this, i have a ton of screens but have spent the weekend away from home - tonight's the night

[JasonPratt]

Just wanted to register for thread updates, but I'll also provide a link to SDR's brilliant French AAR of HOI:TFN here at Grogheads: http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=6659.0

[undercovergeek]

So, we're off...........

For administration purposes only, the Navy is split into submarines/light cruisers & destroyers/heavy destroyers and sent to bases on the western coast of Italy -



And the same with the Airforce, split into interceptors, naval bombers, and tactical bombers -



And so to Africa..........

Commanded by Lieutenant General Marinetti the Armata dell'A.O.I commence operations against the might of Ethiopia -





The task ahead -



Our first step onto foreign soil, advancing is very slow, the supply situation here is terrible -



Under the command of General Graziani the forces attacking from Somalia are better supplied from the port in Mogadishu but are poor fighters -



Shit.......



Shit........



Oh dear Lord, sweeping changes in the Italian military are needed immediately............ -



..................We enact Speciality Training throughout the armed forces - new recruits will take longer to train but they will be highly trained when they leave military school -



We start to take back the lost ground, and advance on the capital -

[undercovergeek]

After some careful maneuvering during February and March Italian forces are able to march on the Ethiopian Capital -




After some vicious street fighting the city finally fell -




The government switched the capital to the final remaining province in friendly hands - Jimma. Surrounded, disorganised and demoralised the forces of Ethiopia were finally beaten on the streets of Jimma 2 weeks later, and the Ethiopians lost the war -




We had originally entered the war with no real political thought beyond expanding the Italian Empire. Although wary of any Ethiopian who stepped forward to rule the land as a client, especially considering the difficult and obstinate fight they had put up to prevent their land from being subjugated, we feel that for the moment it is best to deviate from the original, if vague, political objectives Italy had gone to war for. Ethiopia would be made a puppet state. The army was immediately ordered to return to Ed, from whence it would be taken to Tobruk. As that happens various automatic laws are enacted as Italy steps down from its war footing -




Transport flotillas head to the Suez canal for the journey down to Ed to collect the victorious army -




In the meantime near the slums of Naples an illegal printing workshop opens. Eager to prevent any anti-government leaflets hitting the streets Mussolini takes a dim view and decides to clamp down on the ringleaders -



By mid-May, Italian companies quickly began reporting that their contracts had been completed successfully. At the Cantieri shipyard...... -




..............their industry had gone into overdrive to replace and upgrade the engines, armament, anti air armament and armour on Italy's light cruiser fleet. Given Mussolini's new focus on light cruisers as the escorts for his brand new carrier fleet, this brought his cruisers upto British standards - the benchmark he would set his naval force by, before surpassing it.



In late May and early June three technologies were completed. Moschetto finished its work on a new infantry rifle, and Breda on its new light machine gun. Coupled with advances in light artillery and infantry anti tank weapons Mussolini had now reached a point where he felt ready to initiate the creation and training of the first Italian Marine forces which would compliment his new naval power -






Finally, and even more importantly, Cantieri completed their work on an escort carrier design in early June. Mussolini immediately contracted them to begin working on a full-blown fleet carrier design, and simultaneously placed orders for them to construct two escort carriers: the RM Aquila and the RM Sparviero. Macchi picked up the contract for constructing the warplanes of their air groups. Finally, Mussolini's strategic vision is on its way to becoming an actual reality -





With that the plans for the first 6 months of Mussolini's new Italy are complete...........................

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Good stuff.  I really like the photo additions. 

[undercovergeek]

Good stuff.  I really like the photo additions.

cheers SDR, if i can find an appropriate picture for each 'snippet' ill use it, id like to tell the tale mostly through pics if possible - although i might struggle for any alternate history snaps!

[undercovergeek]

so the errrr Italian Defence Minister (me) stayed up til 4 this morning readjusting the nations forces and divisional composition - i had no idea - i thought it was 23:00 when i'd done - you know when you think 'birds? at this time - oh s***!!'

story soon

[JasonPratt]

Wow!

Addiction bodes well, though.  :D