Axis

From Victory In Europe

The Axis forces is the common designation of the Alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan, as well as their respective Allies, in World War II. In ViE, the Axis are one of the two sides fighting for domination over Europe and may be represented by any division which could (or did) possibly have fought for the Axis in WWII.

Axis players use German classes in-game.

Contents 1 (Real) History 1.1 The German Military 1.2 The Heer 1.3 The Kriegsmarine 1.4 The Luftwaffe 2 Ranks 2.1 List of Standard Heer ranks 2.1.1 Commanding Officers (COs) 2.1.2 CO Cadets 2.1.3 Non-Comissioned Officers (NCOs) 2.1.4 NCO Cadets 2.1.5 Enlisted Soldiers 3 Divisions in ViE 4 Campaign History 4.1 ViE#1 4.2 ViE#2 4.3 ViE#3 4.4 ViE#4 4.5 ViE#5 4.6 ViE#6 4.7 ViE#7 4.8 ViE#8 4.9 ViE#9 4.10 ViE#10 4.11 ViE#11 4.12 ViE#12 4.13 ViE#13 4.14 ViE#14 5 See also

(Real) History

The Axis were the collaborated forces drawn together by the Nazi Political Party to fight against the Allies in World War Two. The Axis powers originally included Nazi Germany, Italy, and Japan who signed a pact in Berlin on September 27, 1940. They were later joined by Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, and Slovakia.

The German Military

The complete German military was referred to as the Wehrmacht (1935-1945) and was divided into 4 main sections. The Army or "Heer", the Navy or "Kriegsmarine", the Airforce or "Luftwaffe" and the Armed SS or "Waffen-SS".

The Heer

The Heer was created in 1935 after the "Law for the Reconstruction of the National Defense Forces" was passed allowing Germany to have a substantial amount of military forces which was formerly banned since World War 1. After the Treaty of Versailles was signed, the Weimar Republic - successor to Imperial Germany - was limited to only a very small military called the Reichswehr. The size of this military was strictly controlled by the Allies and only consisted of 100,000 men divided between the Reichsheer and the Reichsmarine.

In 1933 the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) came to power and the infamous Third Reich was born. Two years later in 1935, the Treaty of Versailles was renounced and the Reichswehr became the Wehrmacht. The Heer started off with 21 Division Units and 3 Army groups to control them. Between 1935 and 1945, this expanded to hundreds of divisions and dozens of army groups.

Between 1939 and 1945 the Heer bore the majority of six years worth of fierce combat. The vast majority of German Heer Units served with great distinction across many thousands of miles of battlefields. Over 13 Million people served in the Heer.

The Kriegsmarine

The Kriegsmarine was formed in early 1935 as the Wehrmacht was formed after the Treaty of Versaille was renounced. It comprised mainly of 3 sections including indivdual naval vessels, naval formations consisting of specific types of ships, and a certain number of ground units. The Kriegsmarine fielded thousands of naval vessels and hundreds of naval formations and ground units.

The Kriegsmarine was greatly under-appreciated during World War 2. They fought outnumbered on almost every front whilst there was unorganised co-ordination and they were misunderstood greatly by the German High Command. Although the vast majority of the Fleets and U-boats were destroyed by the Allied Air-Force and Navy, the rest of the kriegsmarine fought til the closing days of World War 2. The Kriegsmarine was officially disbanded in 1946 by the Allied Control Comission.

The Luftwaffe

Although officially announced in 1935, the Luftwaffe existed in some form ever since it was banned by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Initially, there were Freikorps units, and later Glider and Sail plane formations who were taske with finding ways around the versailles treaty.

The Luftwaffe consisted of air units that made up the majority of the German airforce, as well as Fallschrimjäger units, Luftwaffe Field Divisions, the elite Herman Göring ground formations, thousands of smaller anti-aircraft, engineer, communications and security units, and a fair number of Luftwaffe naval vessels and formations as well.

Initially the Luftwaffe ruled the skies but thereafter fought an increasingly futile war of attrition which when combined with vital mistakes in aircraft production and utilization, was its death knoll. In the face of this the Luftwaffe produced the most successful air aces of all time. As well, the feats of the Fallschirmjäger in the first airborne operations in history are as heroic as they are tragic.

Ultimately the structure of the Luftwaffe was a grand relfection of its commander, Hermann Göring. He strove more so than any other branch to create a personal army with responsibilities as far reaching as possible. It was partly due to this that the Wehrmacht was ultimately defeated. The Luftwaffe was offically disbanded in August of 1946 by the Allied Control Commission.

Ranks

The Axis units in ViE use a broad variety of Axis ranks, and so far (as of ViE#5), their rank designations and insignia changed at least slightly in every campaign.

For an overview about how the Axis ranks developed, see: Axis ranks For the different rank systems of Axis divisions, see: Kriegsmarine ranks, Italian ranks, Luftwaffe ranks, Panzerjäger ranks

List of Standard Heer ranks

The following rank designations are most common in (German) Axis divisions:

Commanding Officers (COs)

• CinC / Generalfeldmarschall
• General
• Generalmajor
• Oberst
• Oberstleutnant
• Major
• Hauptmann
• Oberleutnant
• Leutnant

CO Cadets

• Oberfähnrich
• Fähnrich
• Fahnenjunker
• Obergefreiter OA
• Gefreiter OA

Non-Comissioned Officers (NCOs)

• Oberstabsfeldwebel
• Stabsfeldwebel
• Oberfeldwebel
• Feldwebel
• Unterfeldwebel
• Unteroffizier

NCO Cadets

• Unteroffizier FA
• Obergefreiter OA
• Gefreiter OA

Enlisted Soldiers

• Oberstabsgefreiter
• Stabsgefreiter
• Hauptgefreiter
• Obergefreiter
• Gefreiter
• Schütze / Flieger / Matrose

Divisions in ViE

Main Article: Division

Campaign	Division Name	Tag	Motto	Record	Squads
#1	1. Gebirgsjäger-Division	[1-GJ]	"For the Edelweiss!"	13-5	Jägertruppe JT (Elite) Festungspioniere FP (Defense) Grenadiertruppe GT (Offense)
#2	2. Kreuzer-Flottille "Niedersachsen"	[2-KF]	"ALL YOUR SEAS ARE BELONG TO US"	12-10	U-Boot 47 U-47 (Elite) Schwerer Kreuzer Admiral Scheer AS (Defense) Schlachtschiff Gneisenau GN (Offense)
#3	3° Reggimento Bersaglieri	[3-RB]	"Maiora Viribus Audere"	19-5	Compania Motomitraglieri MM (Elite) Compania Guastatori GU (Defense) Compania Controcarro CC (Offense)
#4	4. Fallschirmjäger-Division	[4-FJ]	None	13-11	Gold Staffel GS (Elite) Gruppe Granit GR (Defense) Gruppo Acciaio AC (Offense)
#5	5. Panzerjäger-Division	[5-PzJ]	None	7-15	Spezialgebiet-Gruppe SG (Elite) Verteidigung-Gruppe VG (Defense) Angriff-Gruppe AC (Offense)
#6	La División Azul (250th Infantry Division)	[AZUL]	"AZUL!"	14-6	269 Regimiento de Infanteria 69 (Elite) 263 Regimiento de Infanteria 63 (Defense) 262 Regimiento de Infanteria 62 (Offense)
#7	Kamikaze Navy Kamikaze Airforce	[KK-N] [KK-A]	None	12-2	?? (Elite) ?? (Defense) ?? (Offense)
#8	British Free Corps Russian National Liberation Army	[BFC] [RONA]	None	10-12	?? (Elite) ?? (Defense) ?? (Offense)
#9	132ª Divisione Corazzata Ariete	[DCA]	None	12-8	Bersaglieri E (Elite) Artiglieria D (Defense) Carristi A (Offense)
#10	90. Leichte Afrika-Division	[Ax90.]	None	14-6	Zulu Z (Specialist) Fallschirmjaeger F (Rifles) Widowmakers W (Autos)
#11	Corpul 4 Armata Teritorial	[4TC]	None	16-4	317th Recon Battalion C (Specialist) 30th Honour Guard Regiment M (Rifles) 811th Infantarie Battalion T (Autos)
#12 & 13	Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun	[DTR]	None	1-11, 11-9	89th Infantry, Yamahei-dan Ya (Elite) 114th Infantry, Kukuhei-dan K (Rifles) 124th Infantry, Ryuujin D (Autos)
#14	369th Croatian Army	[Ax369.]	None	5-13	Sturmkommando SK (Elite) Festungstruppen FT (Defense) Panzergrenadier PG (Offense)

Campaign History

ViE#1

The Axis won ViE#1 with 13-5 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 1

ViE#2

The Axis won ViE#2 with 12-10 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 2

ViE#3

The Axis won ViE#3 with 19-5 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 3

ViE#4

The Axis won ViE#4 with 13-11 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 4

ViE#5

The Axis lost ViE#5 with 7-15 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 5

ViE#6

The Axis won ViE#6 with 14-6 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 6

ViE#7

The Axis won ViE#7 with a combined 12-2 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 7

ViE#8

The Axis drew ViE#8 with a combined 10-12 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 8

ViE#9

The Axis won ViE#9 with 12-8 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 9

ViE#10

The Axis won ViE#10 with 14-6 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 10

ViE#11

The Axis won ViE#11 with 16-4 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 11

ViE#12

The Axis lost ViE#12 with 1-11 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 12

ViE#13

The Axis won ViE#13 with 11-9 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 13

ViE#14

The Axis lost ViE#14 with 5-13 (victories - defeats)

For more information, see ViE Campaign 14

See also

• Heer - German land forces
• Luftwaffe - German air force
• Kriegsmarine - German war navy
• Italian - Italian units
• Gebirgsjäger - German mountain infantry
• Bersaglieri - Italian light infantry
• Fallschirmjäger - German paratroopers

• Luftwaffe ranks - Ranks of the Luftwaffe
• Kriegsmarine ranks - Ranks of the Kriegsmarine
• Panzerjäger ranks - Ranks of the Light Armour units

• Generalfeldmarschall - generic term for the Axis Commander-in-Chief

• Allies - The main adversary of the Axis