FUSAGIR - Ukraine '44*
(An Alternate History Scenario)*
(Best played as AMERICAN)*
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Date: March, 1944*
Location: Near Cherkassy, Ukraine*
Type: US advance vs. German delay*
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WARNING: This is a moderately difficult scenario which will require careful tactics to obtain a desirable outcome!
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With the fall of the United Kingdom in 1941 followed by the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1942, both the United States and Soviet Union were forced into an uneasy alliance. If the Soviet Union were allowed to fall, nothing would be able to check total Nazi domination of Europe.
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Accordingly, in late 1942, the first US troops arrived in the Soviet Union through Vladivostok and were ferried across the Trans-Siberian Railroad to the battlefronts in Western Russia.
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That was two years ago. Casualties in FUSAGIR (First US Army Group in Russia) have passed nearly 1.5 million, of which nearly a quarter million are fatal. But still, Russia remains in the war, offering a glimmer of hope that one day, Nazi domination of Europe shall end.
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FUSAGIR has had a long, hard road to where it is now in March 1944; having learned how to fight and defeat the German Army at tremendous cost in blood. It is hoped that the new M23 Sheridan tanks will help tilt the balance in 1944, enabling the Germans to be pushed out of the Ukraine and denying them the oil fields of Maikop.
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The new M23s have been sent to units near Cherkassy, Ukraine; and first combat is only moments away...
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NOTES: I used ScenHack and UnitData to change things around a bit:
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--I converted A-20G-20 Havocs back into the earlier A-20G-1, since against more lethal German Flak, you need more range than .50 Caliber HMGs, and the cannon jamming problems could have been solved if effort had been put into it; instead of just selling pretty much all of the A-20G-1s to the USSR.
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--I converted the A-36A Apache into the A-36B Apache, a product improved variant with 4 x 20mm cannon in the wing. This isn't a total flight of fancy. In August 1943, General Arnold demanded that "plans [must] be made which will insure the availability of low-altitude fighters . . . such plans must contemplate a minimum of six operational groups prior to 1 April 1944, a quantity and deadline which preclude any new design." One of the proposed designs in Arnold's memo was a P-51 with a single stage Allison engine (along with a P-38 with single-stage Allisons).
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--The M6 Heavy Tank has been converted to hold a 90mm gun, along with the M10 Wolverine TDs; since in this universe, the heavy fighting on the Eastern Front by American troops would force it into service earlier.