HOI4 (Hearts of Iron IV): How to Recall Volunteers

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Hearts of Iron IV (HOI4) is a grand strategy game developed by Paradox Interactive, set in the confines of the Second World War. Historically, nations have sent volunteers to aid their allies in times of conflict without being directly involved, and that much is the same in Hearts of Iron IV, where volunteers can play a crucial role in any conflict around the world, one that could possibly shift the balance of power in the region and perhaps of alliances as well. In this article, we’ll go through all the ways one can recall their volunteers divisions in HOI4, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

How to Recall Volunteers in HOI4

Volunteers are a great way to gain XP, test out your divisions, and play a key role in impacting the politics in the area. The number of volunteers is dependent on your ideology, the number of provinces in the destination country, and the number of active divisions in your army.

Please note that there is no way to recall volunteers manually in HOI4, but should you need your veteran and battle-hardened divisions back immediately, you can use either of these methods to recall them:

Go to War.
The destination country is at peace.

Admittedly, the first method is easier, as it can be justified in perhaps 3 months or even less, depending on the justification used (conquering new territories takes much longer than conquering claimed states, so keep this in mind when justifying a war).

The second method may depend on how large the enemy is and how much territory you still need to conquer. For example, conquering Cuba is much easier than sending your forces to aid China or Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War, which will definitely go beyond a year or so.

Why Not Just Disband the Volunteers?

If the enemies encircle and destroy your volunteers, they will not return to your fold, and you will need to retrain a new division.

If you choose to disband your volunteers (before the enemies encircle them), you will gain all the manpower and equipment back, but will also need to train a new division to replace the one disbanded.

As such, we do not recommend these actions, as you can choose to keep your troops in the back of the fighting until the enemy pushes against your allied nations’ capital and victory points.

At that point the fighting will end and your troops can return with all their manpower, experience, and equipment still intact (save for those lost in transition, usually 10% of your equipment).

And that is all you need to know about how to recall volunteers in HOI4. Check out other interesting HOI4 guides and articles: