Timeline In A Week: On To Berlin!

And now, to mark the upcoming 75th anniversary of the start of World War II, I present my second Timeline In A Week series....

ON TO BERLIN!
An Alternate History Of The First Days Of The Second World War
PART 1



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NEW YORK POST
September 1st, 1939

WAR!
German Army Attacks Poland;
Britain And France Start Full Mobilization


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CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

"Just moments ago Prime Minister Chamberlain told the House of
Commons that if Germany did not halt its invasion of Poland and
withdraw its troops from Polish soil within twenty-four hours, Great
Britain would have to regard herself as being in a state of war with
the Reich. In response Adolf Hitler has vowed that if the British should
go to war with him the German people will 'meet bomb with bomb'..."


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CHICAGO SUN-TIMES EVENING EDITION

ROOSEVELT PROCLAIMS U.S. NEUTRALITY IN EUROPE;
NAZI U-BOAT SIGHTED OFF NEW YORK HARBOR


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BALTIMORE SUN
September 2nd, 1939

GERMANY REJECTS BRITISH ULTIMATUM
British Expeditionary Force Prepares To Embark
For France; French Troops Poised On German Border


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TIMES OF LONDON

NO SIGN OF GERMAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM POLAND
Home Fleet Ordered To Put To Sea;
RAF Fighter Command Squadrons On Alert


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MUTUAL RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

"With less than an hour to go before Prime Minister Chamberlain's
deadline for the withdrawal of German troops from Poland is due to
expire, the invasion force is continuing to press home its attacks on
the Polish army and we are now getting reports that the Luftwaffe is
bombing Warsaw....”


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EXCERPT OF PRIME MINISTER CHAMBERLAIN'S
RADIO ADDRESS

"I regret to tell you now there has been no indication from Berlin that
they are prepared to withdraw their troops from Poland, and thus this
country is at war with Germany..."


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NBC RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

"Hitler today made good on his threat to 'meet bomb with bomb' as British
army units stationed in France came under air attack by the Germans in a
series of co-ordinated surprise early morning raids. There is no word yet as
to casualties, but a spokesman for the British Imperial General Staff confirms
the field headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force was one of the main
targets of the attack and promised swift retaliatory action by the RAF and its
French allies...."


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NEW YORK TIMES EVENING EDITION

BRITISH, FRENCH ARTILLERY BOMBARD SIEGFRIED LINE
Royal Navy Claims German U-Boat Sunk Off Dutch Coast



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WASHINGTON POST
September 3rd, 1939

ALLIED, GERMAN TANKS CLASH ALONG FRENCH BORDER
R.A.F. BOMBERS RAID GERMAN AIRFIELDS


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BOSTON GLOBE AFTERNOON EDITION

BRITISH BATTLESHIP H.M.S. ROYAL OAK HEAVILY DAMAGED
IN U-BOAT ATTACK
Wounded Royal Navy Flagship Towed Back To Scapa Flow;
U-Boat That Launched Attack Sunk By Carrier Planes


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DAILY MAIL

POLAND VOWS TO FIGHT ON DESPITE HEAVY LOSSES
Two Air Defense Squadrons Decimated In Heroic Battle
With German Planes Over Warsaw; Cavalry Brigade Cut To Pieces


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VOLKISCHER BEOBACHTER

HEROIC GERMAN SOLDIERS CRUSH BARBARIC POLE ATTACK
ON EAST PRUSSIA
Polish Navy Treacherously Fires On Unarmed Merchant Vessel;
Hundreds Of Men Slaughtered In Cold Blood


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SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
September 4th, 1939

POLISH GOVERNMENT DENIES NAZI MASSACRE CLAIMS
Asserts Sunken German Merchant Ship Likely Victim
Of U-Boat Friendly Fire


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CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

"The Allied armies in France have now gone over to the attack...The German
Reich's official state radio reported just minutes ago that French and British
troops have crossed the Franco-German border and are fighting the Wehrmacht
south of Kiel...."


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LOS ANGELES TIMES EVENING EDITION

JAPAN CUTS DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH POLAND,
REAFFIRMS SUPPORT FOR ROME-BERLIN AXIS


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BBC WORLD SERVICE NEWS BULLETIN

“The German war ministry claims they have begun a counterattack against
Allied infantry and armored columns near Kiel, but so far there has been no
confirmation of this from independent sources....”


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TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL

U-BOAT SIGHTED OFF NOVA SCOTIA SHORE
Naval Patrols Pursue, Engage Enemy Sub; Casualties Unknown


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NEW YORK TIMES
September 5th, 1939

SOVIET TROOPS AT POLAND'S EASTERN BORDER


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TIMES OF LONDON

STALIN WARNS POLISH GOVERNMENT AGAINST ALLEGED
“BARBARISM” TOWARD ETHNIC RUSSIANS IN POLAND


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CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

“Tonight the Polish government is accusing the Soviet Union of plotting an invasion of
Poland’s eastern territories. With the Polish armed forces already under siege thanks to
the Nazi invasion of western Poland four days ago, sources at the Polish embassy here
in Washington state, a Soviet attack on Poland at this juncture might well lead to total
and irrevocable defeat for the Polish cause....”


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HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN EVENING EDITION

PROTESTORS PICKET JAPANESE CONSULATE
OVER PRO-AXIS STATEMENTS FROM TOKYO


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NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
September 6th, 1939

INVASION
Red Army Attacks Eastern Poland In Four-Pronged Assault


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NBC RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

“Word of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland is being greeted horror and outrage
throughout America. Nowhere does that outrage simmer more hotly than in Chicago,
where thousands of Polish-American demonstrators are marching through the city's
streets in protest of Stalin's perfidious attack on their ancestral homeland....At the
White House President Roosevelt is accusing the Soviets of conspiring with the Nazis
to carve Poland up between them...”


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BBC WORLD SERVICE NEWS BULLETIN

“Marshal Stalin has denied any territorial ambitions in eastern Poland and asserts
the introduction of Soviet military forces into Polish territory is a purely defensive
measure to guard ethnic Russians in Poland against what he calls 'blatant malicious
persecution' by the Polish government....”


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WASHINGTON POST EVENING EDITION

EXTRA—MARSHAL SMIGLY-RYDZ DEAD
Polish Prime Minister Killed In German Bombing Raid

 
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The two main PODs are:

(A)Chamberlain declaring war on Germany within 24 hours of the invasion of Poland instead of waiting 48 hours as he did in OTL;
(B)The Allies are quick to launch a counterattack against the Germans, which pretty much butterflies away the "phony war" lull of OTL Sept. 1939-April 1940.
 
The two main PODs are:

(A)Chamberlain declaring war on Germany within 24 hours of the invasion of Poland instead of waiting 48 hours as he did in OTL;
(B)The Allies are quick to launch a counterattack against the Germans, which pretty much butterflies away the "phony war" lull of OTL Sept. 1939-April 1940.

Ah. This will change things a lot.
 
The two main PODs are:

(A)Chamberlain declaring war on Germany within 24 hours of the invasion of Poland instead of waiting 48 hours as he did in OTL;
(B)The Allies are quick to launch a counterattack against the Germans, which pretty much butterflies away the "phony war" lull of OTL Sept. 1939-April 1940.

No Phoney War? This shit just got real...

Are we going to see Soviet troops fighting alongside German ones to defend Berlin?
 
Umm you do realize where Kiel is? Right?

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When did the Allies get a Star Trek transporter to go from the Franco-German boarder to Kiel in only a few hours?

Edit: the dot won't show, but its on the Baltic coast of the southern Jutland peninsula
 
Yeah... the Western Allies might have been stronger on paper then the Germans in the West, but in practice breaking through the through the fortifications and terrain of the Siegfried line with only partially mobilized formations would take quite awhile despite the relatively weak German forces. Even assuming a immediate major breakthrough (unlikely given the glacial operational tempo of Anglo-French offensive doctrine at this time) and a proper exploitation of said breakthrough (also unlikely for the same reason) it would still likely take the Western Allies a full week, at the minimum, too even get close to Kiel.
 
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Subscribed, Chris!:)

Glad to have you on board. :)

Umm you do realize where Kiel is? Right?

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When did the Allies get a Star Trek transporter to go from the Franco-German boarder to Kiel in only a few hours?

Edit: the dot won't show, but its on the Baltic coast of the southern Jutland peninsula

IIRC, much of the Siegfried Line wasn't as formidable as Herr Doktor Goebbels would have liked everyone to think it was. I was working on the notion that Allied ground forces in this TL exploited one or more of the weak points in those fortifications to execute a maneuver analogous to what the Germans did in OTL 1940 with their Ardennes offensive. Also, you might recall that the time between the British declaration of war in this TL and the first reports of fighting between Allied and German forces in the region surrounding Kiel is actually three days as opposed to just a handful of hours. And last but not least, the British had been continuously refiniing their amphibious warfare doctrines since the 1920s, so it's possible the Allies might have staged a diversionary attack on the Jutland coast to tie up Wehrmacht units that might otherwise have been deployed to stop the main Allied assault into northern Germany.

Subscribed.

Welcome to the party. :D

Yeah... the Western Allies might have been stronger on paper then the Germans in the West, but in practice breaking through the through the fortifications and terrain of the Siegfried line with only partially mobilized formations would take quite awhile despite the relatively weak German forces. Even assuming a immediate major breakthrough (unlikely given the glacial operational tempo of Anglo-French offensive doctrine at this time) and a proper exploitation of said breakthrough (also unlikely for the same reason) it would still likely take the Western Allies a full week, at the minimum, too even get close to Kiel.

See my response to CDurham's comments.
 
ON TO BERLIN!
An Alternate History Of The First Days Of The Second World War
PART 2


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PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
September 7th, 1939

HITLER DEMANDS POLAND’S SURRENDER;
SOVIET TROOPS ENCIRCLE LUBLIN


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BBC WORLD SERVICE NEWS BULLETIN

“Today in Rome, Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is scheduled to meet with the
German ambassador to Italy to clarify the Italian government’s stance regarding
the conflict in Poland...At sea, the surviving passengers and crew of the sunken
liner Athenia have been rescued by an American naval vessel and are being taken
to New York to receive medical attention....In Poland, Soviet bombers have raided
Warsaw for the first time, inflicting further damage on a city that has already been
devastated by German air attacks....”


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MONTREAL GAZETTE

RCAF FIGHTER PILOT SHOT DOWN OVER FLENSBURG
26-Year-Old Nova Scotia Man Believed To Be First Allied Airman
Killed In Action Since 1918


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DETROIT FREE PRESS EVENING EDITION

FDR TO SPEAK ON RADIO TOMORROW ABOUT SITUATION
IN EUROPE
No Hint As To Whether President Will Seek Repeal
Of Neutrality Act


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EXCERPT OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S RADIO ADDRESS
September 8th, 1939

“I’ve said before, and will say again now, that I will continue to exert every effort
to preserve American neutrality in the war in Europe. However, let no one doubt for
a moment that should American security or interests be endangered by the conflict
at any time I stand ready to act against that danger at a second’s notice....”


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DAILY MAIL

BRITISH TROOPS ENTER KIEL AMID INTENSE RESISTANCE
Gen. Ironside Pledges To “Clean The Jerries Out”


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MUTUAL RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

“Tonight, angry demonstrators are marching outside the Soviet embassy in
Washington in protest of the Red Army's invasion of Poland. Despite repeated
demands by the Soviet ambassador that the marchers be arrested, police have
so far declined to take any action to interfere with the demonstration...”


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CHICAGO TRIBUNE EVENING EDITION

EXTRA--ROYAL NAVY IN PURSUIT OF GRAF SPEE
German Pocket Battleship Thought To Be Trying To Reach
Neutral Port In South America


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WARNER PATHE NEWSREEL
September 9th, 1939

“These pictures show the ferocity with which the Allied armies are fighting to
wrest control of Kiel from the Germans! Despite relentless artillery bombardment
and air raids by the Nazis, the British and French armies and the Canadian troops
supporting their offensive refuse to abandon their struggle to snatch the vital port
from Hitler’s grasp...”


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BOSTON HERALD AFTERNOON EDITION

LUBLIN FALLS TO REDS;
BIYALSTOK UNDER SIEGE
Defeat Of Polish Forces In East Suspected Imminent


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RADIO MOSCOW

“The Red Army’s glorious victory at Lublin today brings our motherland
one day closer to final triumph over the counterrevolutionary thugs of the
Warsaw government....”


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INDIANAPOLIS STAR EVENING EDITION

ALLIES NOW IN CONTROL OF MOST OF JUTLAND COAST
Belgian Fascists Protests Brussels’ Military Pact
With Britain And France


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NEW YORK TIMES
September 10th, 1939

BRITISH MILITARY MISSION EN ROUTE TO FINLAND;
GERMAN ARMY LAUNCHES COUNTERATTACK AGAINST
ALLIED POSITIONS IN NORTHERN GERMANY;
MUSSOLINI ORDERS ITALIAN MEDITERRANEAN FLEET MOBILIZED


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BBC HOME SERVICE NEWS BULLETIN

“Prime Minister Chamberlain has told the House of Commons that Italy's decision to
mobilize its Mediterranean fleet constitutes a grave menace to Britain's interests
in North Africa and could potentially be regarded as an act of war by the Mussolini
regime against Britain....”


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SACRAMENTO BEE AFTERNOON EDITION

EXTRA--REDS OVERRUN BIYALSTOK
Stalin Declares War With Poland Is As Good As Over


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CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

“This is London...Despite repeated demands from both Hitler and Stalin for
Poland's capitulation Thadeusz Bor-Komorowsky, the Polish army commander
who has been heading Poland's emergency government since Marshal Smigly-
Rydz's death, says his country will continue to fight for its independence. Bor-
Komorowsky told a Swiss journalist today: As long as one Polish soldier has any
ammunition for his rifle, as long as one Polish navy vessel travels the sea, as
long as one Polish combat aircraft patrols the skies, we will fight. If need be I
will personally lead the last remnants of our armed forces against the invaders
and resist the enemy to my dying breath....”



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WASHINGTON STAR
September 11th, 1939

BRITISH NAVAL TASK FORCE CLOSING IN GRAF SPEE
German Pocket Battleship Sighted Off Brazilian Coast


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MUTUAL RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

“Today the Allied air forces retaliated for the destruction inflicted by German
bombers on Warsaw and other Polish cities as British warplanes attacked Berlin
for the first time, targeting the city's central water and electrical plants....”


1

DETROIT NEWS AFTERNOON EDITION

NAZI ARTILLERY SHELLING ALLIED POSITIONS IN KIEL


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CBS RADIO NEWS BULLETIN

“The FBI has issued a warrant for the arrest of twenty leading U.S. Communist
Party officials on suspicion of spying for the Soviet Union....”
 
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Things so far seem to be shaping up rather nicely. The US seems to be edging further towards mobilization and the USSR is pissing off the Allies really badly.
 
I was working on the notion that Allied ground forces in this TL exploited one or more of the weak points in those fortifications to execute a maneuver analogous to what the Germans did in OTL 1940 with their Ardennes offensive.

So they managed to pull off something that was not covered by their doctrine and which they were not organized, equipped, or trained for and do it far faster then the people who were.

And you are asking me why I am skeptical?
 
The two main PODs are:

(A)Chamberlain declaring war on Germany within 24 hours of the invasion of Poland instead of waiting 48 hours as he did in OTL;
(B)The Allies are quick to launch a counterattack against the Germans, which pretty much butterflies away the "phony war" lull of OTL Sept. 1939-April 1940.

Yabbut:

...French and British troops have crossed the Franco-German border and are fighting the Wehrmacht south of Kiel..."

There are several problems with this.

As has been noted, Kiel is hundreds of kilometers from the French border. If there were were no German troops at all between the border and Kiel, it would take a week for French troops to get there. (Motorized troops have to have fuel. It takes time for fuel to be brought forward to advanced units.)

There were no British troops deployed in France on 1 September 1939. At minimum, it would take a week for even a token brigade to be moved to the Franco-German border.

Neither France nor Britain mobilized until after the start of fighting in Poland. There were no troops ready for any sort of major offensive against Germany for several weeks, nor any French plans for an attack sooner than that.

Britain had some limited amphibious ability, even in 1939, but it would have been suicide for Britain to attempt a landing on the German North Sea coast. The Luftwaffe completely controlled the air out to the middle of the North Sea, and any invasion force would be spotted at least a day before landing. While Luftwaffe anti-shipping techniques were still primitive then, they would be good enough to cut up any amphibious force and damage any warships that loitered in range. The German Navy was small, but it was large enough to contest any attempted landing, unless Britain committed a big chunk of the RN into an area under hostile air cover, heavily sown with minefields, and in range of enemy MTBs. And German reserves would be massed at any landing point, dug in and waiting.

What else? OTL Stalin waited until 17 September to move into Poland, by which time the Polish army was completely shattered. He had no incentive to act sooner. Also, it was not until 15 September that the border conflict with the Japanese in Manchuria was ended. What causes him to jump the gun?
 
While you folks are waiting for Part 3 of this timeline, I thought you might be interested to know that for my third TLIAW series I'm going to tackle a more recent anniversary: the 20-year anniversary of the Republican landslide in the 1994 U.S. midterm Congressional elections.
 
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