The War This Turn:
This season, Cannala is attempting to press their advantage on both the fronts where they advanced last season, the Tereshkova Jungle and Forenian Jungle. Forenia is attempting to beat them back on the same fronts.
The Battle at Sea
Once again a new weapon is seen first where Forenian bomber groups travel overseas. The Forenian 51st Bomber Division acts under strict orders: "Do not divert course when enemy aircraft deploy missiles. Maintain your current heading, and flip Breaker 6A to engage power to the UF-RJ-42 Fair Fight Module." The Cannalans engage in their usual tactic: Fire missiles, turn away and climb to avoid Forenian fighters, then linger just long enough to confirm kills. This time however, the Forenian fighters stay close to their escorts instead of scrambling to retaliate. Hellfire missiles streak through the sky... and then detonate in mid-air, hundreds of meters from their targets. The shocked Cannalan pilots retreat, to report what they've seen.
The Fair Fight Module doesn't render the Cannalan radio-detonated artillery shells ineffective against aircraft, however. Fighters don't carry it, and when bombers have come close enough to AAA fire to test it, it has proven not to be completely effective- many shells still detonate close enough to the aircraft to cause damage.
The general state of sea warfare otherwise is still that Forenia has a greater volume of long-range cannon fire (thanks to their relatively inexpensive Vodka) and sinks some ships by torpedoes (the Dolphin torpedo remains extremely effective), but suffers significant losses to small torpedo boats, mines, and Cannala's superior tactics at sea.
Cannala has an advantage at sea.
The Battle for the Tereshkova Jungle
Attacking: Both
The wet season continues.
It is a fresh battle, with Forenian numbers no longer suffering from a failed attack on Cannalan shores. Cannala continues to have a naval advantage, granting them shore artillery support and ready deployment of small aircraft by carrier where land runways are unavailable, or even at sea behind enemy lines. Forenian bombers operate without fear of reprisal from Cannalan aircraft, since they're practically immune to missiles, but radio-detonated artillery shells are a threat to them. Nightstorm Howitzers fire these on land, but the greatest volume of fire from these shells is by Seaweed Cruisers. The Cannalan navy advances along the shore, creating an exclusion zone in which Forenian aircraft can only attack while suffering great losses, and the land army follows under their protection.
Further from the shore, Forenia still has air superiority: Their fighters are still better, and they make great use of it. Large bombers drop incendiary bombs to burn swaths of the jungle, and Haasts drop the Firecracker bomblets which are very effective against Cannala's APCs. Forenia's Salamander APCs are also still very effective against Raiders. However, Cannala has a new weapon: The Vengeful Charlotte Bomber. The Charlotte carries a large bomb load, and it flies at an altitude high enough that existing jet fighters have difficulty intercepting it. By the time it comes up on Forenian radar, a Lightning Streak needs to already be on patrol nearby, and in between the Charlotte and its objective. While high-altitude bombing from the Charlotte is not very accurate, these attacks still manage to do damage to Forenian camps as well as shore defenses, the latter of which in particular is very valuable for Cannala.
Ground combat is still mainly focuses on infantry and APCs which move infantry easily over muddy roads and rivers. Forenia's Explosive Reactive Armor helps the survivability of their Salamanders in infantry attacks, but not every Salamander is equipped with it. Forenia also makes surprisingly good use, even in 1942, of Tiger Armor Infantry: The idea of armoring soldiers in metal seems antiquated but it is very effective against the assault rifles and shotguns which are used by most soldiers here, curbed only by the use of grenades and grenade launchers. Cannala uses artillery armed with radio-detonated rounds to increase the effectiveness of their artillery against infantry, but this is ineffective against Forenian emplacements, where Fair Fight Modules are used. What Cannala lacks somewhat in infantry punch -their regular guns are about as good as Forenia's, but they don't have Tiger Armor or flamethrowers- they make up for at night, targeting key locations and making up lost ground in daring night-time raids. Forenia's slightly improved Overcompensator guns are the main target of land attacks, giving Cannala access to more shore.
Overall, Forenia still has an advantage in land combat, but the Cannalans are able to use the sea to great advantage here. Control of the shoreline gives them quick and mobile access to deeper parts of the continent by river, and they manage to gain ground. It's still a close thing either way.
Cannala gains ground! [Cannala 2/4, Forenia 2/4]
The Battle for the Forenian Jungle
Attacking: Both
This is also a jungle, so just like West Tershkova, the same things can be said about the infantry, armor, and air support. However a notable difference is that as the fight pushes deeper inland, there is no shoreline for Cannala to control. Without the benefit of missiles to protect them from bombers, the Forenians bomb the Cannalan Army right back up to the shore where Cannala has their fire support ships. The Cannalans are literally kept at bay.
Forenia takes back their land. [Cannala 0/2, Forenia 2/2]
Events outside the War:
The Outside World:
The Germans test the A-4 Rocket. It reaches a height of 84 kilometers, becoming the second man-made object to reach space, after the AS-SS1935X rocket. The Americans defeat Japanese forces on Guadalcanal, near Australia. The Red Cross, meeting in Geneva, holds a special session to consider internationally condemning the German practice of holding civilians in concentration camps, but they ultimately decline to do so. In response to Operation Basalt, a British Commando raid in which reportedly resulted in German soldiers being shot being held prisoner, Hitler issues the Commando Order, commanding his men to execute any captured Commandos, even if they are wearing uniforms. He recommends this be extended to Cannalan night-vision raiders as well. US and British troops invade French North Africa, and a coup against Vichy French government in Algiers ensures the mission's success. French Admiral Darlan, who helped facilitate this, is assassinated shortly thereafter. Throughout the season, allied navies see serious losses to U-boats. USAAF bombers begin to raid italy, the attacks are ineffective in the face of resistance German jet aircraft. The Battle of Stalingrad continues as Germany tries in vain to break the Soviet siege of German-held Stalingrad.
The movie Casablanca is first shown in theaters. Gasoline rationing begins in the United States, and in Cannala, El Presidente follows suit, much to the chagrin of citizens who complain it's "an offense to free capitalism."
Local Events:
The Secret Police arrested Piratejoe. An investigation of his home has found that he has been acting as a liason for Vlanladosian spies in Forenia, he may even be their ringleader. Besides large amounts of foreign money, technical documents pertinent to arms manufacturing machinery and even transport schedules for such machinery have been discovered. Several other individuals are implicated in correspondence as supplying him with machinery to smuggle overseas, they have been arrested as well. It is unclear if any other Engineers are involved, but we believe that this will end Vlanlados spying for now. In other news, the Astronomy Society has been cleared of allegations of harboring secret jews: Their choice of a six-pointed blue star has been chosen for Newton's six laws of motion (including the three less well-known ones- "What goes up must come down unless it goes really fast", "A force which hits Sergei when he's drinking will be hit back twice as hard", and the extremely disputed quote of "You can never have enough rocket fuel"). The fact that they meet in synagogues is simply because the buildings have been recently abandoned and are very inexpensive real estate.
In Cannala, El Presidente has issued a public statement condemning the Forenians' treatment of the Jewish people. "I am told that if you travel to Forenia now, there are no jews at at all to be found. Germany is detaining their jewish population, and that of the countries they've invaded, in camps, which are very cruel if the rumors are to be believed. Now where are missing the Forenian jews? Our informants and reconnaisance see no camps in Forenia. We can only guess what cruel fate may have befallen them. We Cannalans, too, know the feeling of scorn that comes with religious persecution. There are still some of you living now who remember the day our entire nation was declared excommunicated from the Catholic church by the vile, pro-union Pope Leo the Eighth. But we persevered, we never gave in to his demands, and I want any any Forenians who have been harmed by the Nazi regime to know that if they come here, they can help us take their country back. Try to steal as much as you can on the way out."
Turn 21, Commence!
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Topic: Intercontinental Arms Race: Finale (Read 593300 times)