Recaps

The American capital ships suffered catastrophic losses in a battle with the German fleets, then faced a devastating air assault while American and German carrier forces launched strikes against one another. The arc ended as their aircraft began a large aerial battle.

• The German fleets sank Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and the four South Dakota-class battleships, while Kimmel's arriving Montana-class ships forced German vessels to withdraw.
• Kimmel retreated west with his surviving capital ships as German aircraft launched from the Azores and overwhelmed the American fleet's defenses, sinking New Hampshire and damaging its escorts.
• Nimitz sent carrier-based F4U fighters to protect the capital ships, but German FW-190s outmatched them and German aircraft continued attacking the American formation.
• German commanders located the American carriers and launched strikes from their fleets, while Lütjens ordered German carrier forces to join the attack.
• After a submarine spotted the German carriers, Nimitz ordered the 2nd and 3rd Carrier Fleets to launch their aircraft, then sent the 1st and 4th Carrier Fleets into action as German planes approached.
• Nimitz ordered the remaining American fighters to intercept, and American and German commanders sent their fighters and bombers into a large aerial battle.

The German carrier fleets destroyed the American Navy’s main Atlantic force, sinking fifteen aircraft carriers and nine capital ships at the cost of one German carrier and one battleship. After Germany declared war on the United States, American leaders began planning to defend the homeland and rebuild the Navy.

• German fighters and anti-aircraft fire overwhelmed American air defenses as German aircraft attacked the 2nd Carrier Fleet, sinking its escorts and the carrier Randolph.
• Admiral Rolf Kars sent German fighters against approaching American carrier aircraft, while the German fleet’s defenses and fighters inflicted heavy losses on both American attack waves.
• American aircraft sank Apollo and damaged Aphrodite, but German attacks sank the Ticonderoga, Lexington, Saratoga, Princeton, and Hancock among other American ships.
• German aircraft sank more American carriers, and Admiral Nimitz ordered the surviving fleet to retreat while German fleets prepared and launched another strike.
• The renewed German attack sank Enterprise, Wasp, Independence, and Monterey, bringing American carrier losses to fifteen, while German land-based aircraft sank the battleships New Hampshire and Louisiana.
• Marshal Lütjens received reports of German losses and ordered rescue operations, while Admiral Rolf Kars and Lieutenant General Karl Witzel reported the scale of the American defeat.
• At the Supreme Command, Qin Tian received the victory report, ordered rescue and repairs, and declared war on the United States in a broadcast.
• Admiral Nimitz and Admiral Harold Stark assessed the American defeat and called for homeland defense, faster shipbuilding, and new anti-aircraft cruisers, while President Roosevelt ordered a meeting to plan America’s response.

After Germany’s victory over the American Navy, the United States and Island Nation rushed to rebuild their forces while Germany pressed its campaigns against Russia. As German armies encircled Moscow and Yuzefgrad, Joseph fled east, but German forces pursued him and trapped his group near Nizhny Novgorod.

• Roosevelt and US military leaders prioritized rebuilding the Navy while preparing the Army and Air Force to defend the homeland, and Island Nation ordered faster shipbuilding and resource seizures.
• Joseph learned that Russia could not replace its losses and approved evacuating Moscow, while Germany ordered an offensive to capture Moscow and Yuzefgrad.
• Joseph left Moscow by train, but German aircraft attacked and wrecked it near Vladimir, forcing him and Voroshilov to escape on foot toward Nizhny Novgorod.
• German armored and mechanized divisions pursued Joseph as Germany encircled Moscow and Yuzefgrad, while Zhukov rejected a German offer to surrender.
• With German forces advancing, Shaposhnikov and Russia’s leaders evacuated Nizhny Novgorod toward Kazan and Ufa, leaving Joseph’s group struggling to reach the city.
• Joseph found Nizhny Novgorod abandoned and headed toward Kazan by back roads, but German ground forces and aircraft closed in, so he sent Colonel Karlov and over a hundred soldiers west as a decoy.

After Joseph’s death, German forces captured Moscow and Yuzefgrad and forced Russia to accept a partition, reparations, and military limits. Molotov took power as Germany turned its attention to the United States and Britain while reinforcing the Pacific against the Island Nation.

• Joseph accepted that defeat was inevitable and shot himself, and Russian forces later surrendered at Moscow and Yuzefgrad.
• Molotov negotiated Germany’s demands, but Andreyev rejected them, prompting Germany to bomb Chelyabinsk and advance toward the city.
• Shaposhnikov and other Russian leaders backed Molotov, who accepted Germany’s terms and signed the Moscow Peace Treaty.
• Molotov became Supreme Leader of Russia, Timoshenko took charge of German-backed Democratic Russia, and the country split in two.
• Roosevelt ordered American military expansion as Germany’s submarines disrupted shipping, while Hopkins urged Britain to join the United States against Germany.
• Churchill committed Britain to cooperation, ordering the Army expanded and new battleships, battlecruisers, and aircraft carriers built.
• Oscar chose an Atlantic offensive and a defensive Pacific posture, approved plans to destroy American and British naval forces, and scheduled a North American landing for six months later.
• Oscar assigned Rundstedt and German forces to strengthen the South Seas and ordered warships to reinforce the Pacific and Indian Ocean Fleets.