Early invade UK tips

[Lyralei]

I am having some problem getting used to HOI4. I have played a lot of paradox game like CK and EU but I can't get into HOI series. I am trying to play Germany invading UK with paratroops early according to a guide because it is supposedly easy but I am running into a lot of problems.

1/Light fighter range can't reach UK so I have to invade Holland or use Heavy fighter. Both take a lot of times, what should I do?

2/I used 10 regiment of paratroops + artillery and signal but it take 10 days to take a province, and 50 days to take a port against 1 militia regiment. What did I do wrong?

3/I can't seem to kill the 1 UK regiment, they keep retreating and never die. How do I destroy it?

4/Whenever i try using the battle plan to draw front line on UK, it say that it will cancel previous order and all my troops just stuck in the port. How do I use the front line tool?

5/France and UK suddenly allied wih each other mid war against me during April 1938. Is this a historical event that got triggered no matter what? How do I stop this?

[PlasteredPartyAnimal]

If you want to invade UK easy, the best way I've found is to coup them just after declaring war on them. At this point the coup will usually agree to join your faction as you'll both be at war with the same power. Once they join your faction you can simply ferry your troops across the channel into one of the ports controlled by the coup because the requirements for doing this are not nearly as stringent as those for paradrops or naval invasions.

The biggest downside to this method is you don't get the entire island to yourself when you've won the war, but if your main concern is simply getting the UK out of the way this way is probably the best/cheesiest.

[Mihai]

1. It is very difficult and impractical to launch an invasion of UK without taking first Low Countries or France. You can take France quite easily by the first months of 37, it will make everything easier, even the war with the soviets.
2. I depends a lot on what type of troops your paratroops are fighting against. They are very poor against tanks and moderately effective against soft targets. Their main purpose should be to capture a port, so you can bring in your regular army, rather than fighting in the front line for very long.
3. Surround them first.
4. If it says that it means your army has currently defend/garrison orders. Don't worry about it since you can't have an army to both defend and attack. Just press OK and draw your front line.
5. There is a focus for France called "Go with Britain". Once it is completed it will make France join the Allies. You can avoid this by playing a non-historical game (they may choose to form their own faction) or by annexing France before that happens. Last option works 100%. :D

[Lyralei]

Originally posted by LookyLookyIdoDooky:

If you want to invade UK easy, the best way I've found is to coup them just after declaring war on them. At this point the coup will usually agree to join your faction as you'll both be at war with the same power. Once they join your faction you can simply ferry your troops across the channel into one of the ports controlled by the coup because the requirements for doing this are not nearly as stringent as those for paradrops or naval invasions.

The biggest downside to this method is you don't get the entire island to yourself when you've won the war, but if your main concern is simply getting the UK out of the way this way is probably the best/cheesiest.

I have found a way to take a beachhead on dover. I manage to ge air supremacy thanks to the heavy fighter. The bigeest problem I have is to actually winning battle. According the guide, he manage to take over UK in under a year. I can't even take London in that amount of time. I often lose 20 vs 3 battle and UK militia stat are in the hundred instead of dozens like mine. Do I have to use panzer division to fight on offensive?

[Lyralei]

Originally posted by Mihai:

1. It is very difficult and impractical to launch an invasion of UK without taking first Low Countries or France. You can take France quite easily by the first months of 37, it will make everything easier, even the war with the soviets.
2. I depends a lot on what type of troops your paratroops are fighting against. They are very poor against tanks and moderately effective against soft targets. Their main purpose should be to capture a port, so you can bring in your regular army, rather than fighting in the front line for very long.
3. Surround them first.
4. If it says that it means your army has currently defend/garrison orders. Don't worry about it since you can't have an army to both defend and attack. Just press OK and draw your front line.
5. There is a focus for France called "Go with Britain". Once it is completed it will make France join the Allies. You can avoid this by playing a non-historical game (they may choose to form their own faction) or by annexing France before that happens. Last option works 100%. :D

1/How many division France have at early 37? I mainly produce 50 infantry division (with artillery and field hospital) and some motorized.

2/ Do you go through the low countries or the Maginot lines? I tried to simulate the Fall Gleb but it never seem to work. And if I invade the low countries then UK gurantee France

[691neil]

Naval invade on the north east coast of the UK - the ai does not defend the North Sea. The trick is to go asap. You should win before the end of 1936.

[Lyralei]

Originally posted by 691neil:

Naval invade on the north east coast of the UK - the ai does not defend the North Sea. The trick is to go asap. You should win before the end of 1936.

Do you need to build additional tanks and troops for it or you just declare war and invade? And how can you take over the whole country in less than 3 month? September 24 is the earlies dau to declare war on UK IIRC

[Mihai]

Originally posted by Mirchea:

1/How many division France have at early 37? I mainly produce 50 infantry division (with artillery and field hospital) and some motorized.

2/ Do you go through the low countries or the Maginot lines? I tried to simulate the Fall Gleb but it never seem to work. And if I invade the low countries then UK gurantee France

I always went through Maginot Line just because after declaring war on a couple of countries the world tension goes high enough for UK to start guaranteeing everyone. I don't know exactly how many divisions can France can have by the time you can declare war on them, but I think they should have 30-50 on the Maginot Line. However, you don't have to worry about all of them because you only need to break Maginot in one point and you can safely mass your whole army on their border since no one will declare war on you at that time.

[691neil]

Originally posted by Mirchea:

Originally posted by 691neil:

Naval invade on the north east coast of the UK - the ai does not defend the North Sea. The trick is to go asap. You should win before the end of 1936.

Do you need to build additional tanks and troops for it or you just declare war and invade? And how can you take over the whole country in less than 3 month? September 24 is the earlies dau to declare war on UK IIRC

It takes time to justify the war, so you can do both. I used 25 divisions and that was probably overkill. The war takes a few weeks - the UK has a critical supply shortage in 36 and its troops are not at full strength. In addition many of those troops are overseas. You also have better tanks. Invade on the coast between the two ports in the NE and take them asap, bring across the rest of your troops and attack. Do not use battleplans for this war as you need to be aggressive.

Your navy and air force need to be fully committed to support the naval invasion and troop support.

[Lyralei]

Originally posted by Mihai:

Originally posted by Mirchea:

1/How many division France have at early 37? I mainly produce 50 infantry division (with artillery and field hospital) and some motorized.

2/ Do you go through the low countries or the Maginot lines? I tried to simulate the Fall Gleb but it never seem to work. And if I invade the low countries then UK gurantee France

I always went through Maginot Line just because after declaring war on a couple of countries the world tension goes high enough for UK to start guaranteeing everyone. I don't know exactly how many divisions can France can have by the time you can declare war on them, but I think they should have 30-50 on the Maginot Line. However, you don't have to worry about all of them because you only need to break Maginot in one point and you can safely mass your whole army on their border since no one will declare war on you at that time.

What is the composition for the spearhead that you use to break through the Maginot lines? And did you use heavy tank? Going through a mountain region with lvl 3-4- fort seem impossible for me, especially when France have the extended Maginot line focus

[Lyralei]

Originally posted by 691neil:

Originally posted by Mirchea:

Do you need to build additional tanks and troops for it or you just declare war and invade? And how can you take over the whole country in less than 3 month? September 24 is the earlies dau to declare war on UK IIRC

It takes time to justify the war, so you can do both. I used 25 divisions and that was probably overkill. The war takes a few weeks - the UK has a critical supply shortage in 36 and its troops are not at full strength. In addition many of those troops are overseas. You also have better tanks. Invade on the coast between the two ports in the NE and take them asap, bring across the rest of your troops and attack. Do not use battleplans for this war as you need to be aggressive.

Your navy and air force need to be fully committed to support the naval invasion and troop support.

Do you need to build up the navy for it? And when I tried to transport my army it only do a few at a time, even when the weight is <100 and I have 200 naval capacity

[Yaldabaoth]

1) Invade UK from West or East Coast, not through Channel. 24 units of 7inf+2art is more than enough before 1938. Remember, you don't need air superiority and naval superiority only for a brief moment to start the invasion.
2) Do not EVER go through Maginot line. In fact, go kill yourself if you try. Either Netherlands+Belgium route or, much better, naval invasion in Normandy. You can take Paris and all VP needed for capitulation without firing even a single shot.

[691neil]

Originally posted by Mirchea:

Originally posted by 691neil:

It takes time to justify the war, so you can do both. I used 25 divisions and that was probably overkill. The war takes a few weeks - the UK has a critical supply shortage in 36 and its troops are not at full strength. In addition many of those troops are overseas. You also have better tanks. Invade on the coast between the two ports in the NE and take them asap, bring across the rest of your troops and attack. Do not use battleplans for this war as you need to be aggressive.

Your navy and air force need to be fully committed to support the naval invasion and troop support.

Do you need to build up the navy for it? And when I tried to transport my army it only do a few at a time, even when the weight is <100 and I have 200 naval capacity

I build convoys and subs as they help with the invasion. I had enough by Sept 36 to naval invade with 10 divs and reinforce with 15 divs. This is obviousy the risky part as the UK navy could intercept - I have not seen them do it. BTW never use this tactic in MP games as a human player will wreck you.

Also on your other query IMO do not attack the Maginot line it is way easier to go thru Belgium especialy if you have killed the UK.

[Mihai]

Originally posted by Mirchea:

Originally posted by Mihai:

I always went through Maginot Line just because after declaring war on a couple of countries the world tension goes high enough for UK to start guaranteeing everyone. I don't know exactly how many divisions can France can have by the time you can declare war on them, but I think they should have 30-50 on the Maginot Line. However, you don't have to worry about all of them because you only need to break Maginot in one point and you can safely mass your whole army on their border since no one will declare war on you at that time.

What is the composition for the spearhead that you use to break through the Maginot lines? And did you use heavy tank? Going through a mountain region with lvl 3-4- fort seem impossible for me, especially when France have the extended Maginot line focus

The best way I have found to break the Maginot is to use von Manstein (fortress buster) and attack that point which can be hit from 5 (or 6? I forgot) sides with division of 7 infantry + 2 artillery backed up by artillery and engineer companies. Meanwhile the rest of the army should have the role of making diversionary attacks to prevent reinforcing from neighboring provinces and keep the french from maneuvering to avoid the encirclement. Also very important, have some CAS ready to assist, as much as you can afford without sacrificing the fighter production. They basically win the battle or at least can cut the length of the battle in half. Once breaking the Maginot, quickly surround it by going north and south to Belgian and Swiss border. Now you can leave the french out of supplies and surrounded only by few troops while your tanks march to Paris virtually unopposed.
But this is only the best I could think of, maybe someone else found a better strategy.

[Lyralei]

Originally posted by Yaldabaoth:

1) Invade UK from West or East Coast, not through Channel. 24 units of 7inf+2art is more than enough before 1938. Remember, you don't need air superiority and naval superiority only for a brief moment to start the invasion.
2) Do not EVER go through Maginot line. In fact, go kill yourself if you try. Either Netherlands+Belgium route or, much better, naval invasion in Normandy. You can take Paris and all VP needed for capitulation without firing even a single shot.

1/ I tried late 1937, first landed with 20 paratroop regiment, then reinforce with another 60 pushing it up to 80 division at Dover. I can't still take London and UK got reinforced by the Commonwealth. It seem that my army and division composition is very bad. Can you post your division and army composition?

2/ Do you risk UK joining France if you go through the Low countries? And how do you deal with French navy? And it seem weird that they make Battle of Sedan impossible. It was a the decisive battle because the French thought the same way as Paradox

[Mihai]

Originally posted by Yaldabaoth:

1) Invade UK from West or East Coast, not through Channel. 24 units of 7inf+2art is more than enough before 1938. Remember, you don't need air superiority and naval superiority only for a brief moment to start the invasion.
2) Do not EVER go through Maginot line. In fact, go kill yourself if you try. Either Netherlands+Belgium route or, much better, naval invasion in Normandy. You can take Paris and all VP needed for capitulation without firing even a single shot.

Well, I always had little trouble breaking the Maginot, most of the times with less losses and reaching Paris faster than through the Low Countries and also without getting the brits to help them. Not to mention the feeling of seeing 50 division surrounded.
Invasion through Normandy sounds interesting though, but is it possible? I know AI is not very good, but I would think the french navy would at least protect the channel and Biscay.