Germany - Plans and Strategy against Italy - 21 Apr to 17 May 1939

21 Apr 1939: My operational plan for the invasion of Italy if they attack Greece. A prime goal is to reach the ports of Genoa and/or La Spezia in order to prevent France from advancing deep into Italy and grabbing many victory points. I need those VP's to achieve my goals. Namely a port in Libya, Rhodos, Eritrea, Sicily and/or Sardinia as well as northern Italy.

I continue training inexperienced pilots.

….and assign them to missions in the Alpine region.

I plan the construction of a level 3 airbase (600 aircraft) in Montenegro.

I start recruiting an agent in Moscow....

….and support more trade with Holland.

23 Apr 1939: Research for Fuel Refining III has been completed.

I select Construction III next.

28 Apr 1939: My Gebirgs-Divisionen have been upgraded to Mountain Infantry II.

I choose to upgrade my infantry with MP 38 sub-machineguns and anti-tank rifles

My surface fleet construction programme.

The situation in the Black Sea.

Six vessels fully-trained and three more in training.

My anti-ship plans in the Adriatic Sea....

….and in the Aegean Sea.

13 May 1939: My U-Boots are patrolling in the Adriatic Sea. I leave the other regions to the French and British navies.

15 May 1939: The 10. Panzer-Division is deployed and I send it to the Armeeschule for further training.

I replace the Artillery Support company in my Kavallerie-Division with a Military Police company. They will eventually be fighting partisans in Russia.

A view of my current recruiting.

17 May 1939: My Abwehr agents can now receive Commando Training.

My next upgrade will allow agents to blend into the enemy civilian and economic life.

Finally I start an operation to infiltrate the Italian Army.

More preparations in the next post. We have slightly more then 3 months before the Italians can begin their attack.