Belgium proved...troublesome. While the Hammer of the Reich, the 2nd Army, smashed through the Netherlands with ease, two German Armies crumpled Poland, and one helped the Italians throw the Greeks out of Greece, Belgium stood strong.
A British landing took place near Memel after the German Fleet was wholly smashed by Allied naval forces, only to be surrounded, cut off from the beaches, and systematically eliminated. And yet Belgium stood strong.
Two armies stood along the French border in anticipation of the Hammer and supporting Armies smashing through Belgium, but it never came.
The reason for this is because the whole of the Allied forces had dedicated themselves to defending and recapturing lost ground in the Lowlands. The entirety of the enemy's forces wound up getting churned through, though losses were much heavier on the attacking side. Eventually a German breakthrough was forced...in the dead center of the Maginot Line. The French and their allies put up a valiant effort in pushing us back, however the newly fielded Panzer IV A was more than they bargained for on all counts. The gap was widened and eventually a second breakthrough force pushed north-west to Paris, which was surrounded and eventually surrendered after a few days of intense fighting. With France capitulating, Poland pacified, Athens under Fascist control, and the Soviet Union busy with consolidating territory, all but one army was given orders to force the allies from the Belgian pocket (which sounds like a nice snack). Just as it was with the earlier British invasion, the Allied forces had the shore taken from behind them and they were wiped out, though only after valiantly and stubbornly holding their ground from mid-1940 to the end of 1941.
Allied strength now rests largely in Africa, though Italy was able to make some progress on their own. Three armies were diverted to the Soviet border while the rest either defend the French and German shores or prepare to campaign in Africa. Most of Germany's air power is concentrated on launching sorties over and across the Channel.
It's nothing too flashy, but I sucked at HoI in general until something just clicked recently. It's my first time actually playing Regular Ironman since I usually play on an easy difficulty for relaxed worldpainting or with mods for massive tech and decision trees in different eras. I figured a new DLC is a good time to give actually playing the game as it was meant to be a shot.